Settling Down...
One of my friends asked me what a typical day is like for me here in Beijing. I decided that it would be an appropriate thing to blog about, so here I go. The only problem is there isn't really a typical day quite yet. We do have somewhat of a schedule and are starting to get into a groove, so to my knowledge, here is what a typical week looks like (I think):
Sunday: Church at BICF, lunch, free afternoon and evening
Monday & Wednesday:
schedule varies. We usually have about a half hour of class with the rest of the day free to do as we wish. The free day may consist of homework (as today did) or exploring or randomness or any combination.
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday:
7:30 - Run
9:30 - Leadership/Area study class
10:00 - International Class (for 2 hours)
12:00 - Lunch
4:00 - Chinese Class (for 2 hours)
6:00 - Dinner
Evening - varies... sometimes a movie, sometimes homework, sometimes Bonjour runs (bonjour is the closest grocery store to us), randomness...
*On Thursday, we don't have our International Class
Saturday: Free day
It doesn't seem like a very intense schedule, but for some reason the days seem much fuller. I think part of it may be due to the fact that we're still settling in.
About Running
I have so enjoyed making running a part of my daily routine (which is shocking for me to report). I probably should call it jogging - not running. I usually jog by a canal that is really close to our apartment complex. As I jog, I get to see quite a bit of Chinese culture: old men exercising on playground equipment, older women (and sometimes one or two men) doing some kind of slow, concentrated movements to music, people selling fresh produce and sweet potatoes on the street, men fishing out of the canal (which is disgusting because the canal is DIRTY), cars honking (people in Beijing LOVE their car horns), and so much more. This morning, I managed to run for 10 minutes without stopping, then did 7 and 8 in between walking a couple of minutes. My goal is to be able to run for 30 minutes without stopping by the time I leave. I never thought I could really run, but I'm learning to enjoy it, which is kind of fun. I think I just might be going crazy... :)
About the Food
Breakfast - My favorite thing to do is buy fresh fruit after I run in the morning. Normally I buy pineapple (freshly cut) and strawberries or bananas. The strawberries are in season, which makes me so happy!
Lunch - We've been having street food on most days. There are several options on the street. I think my favorite things are sweet potatoes (yes, I actually like them here), chicken sandwiches bu la (without spice), and cabbage that is cooked kind of like sliced-up pancakes. I usually try to get some fruit and the options vary, but it's fun. The street that we buy our food from is only about a two-minute walk from our apartment.
Dinner - We have various restaurants that have been designated as our meal plan. Our favorite restaurant to go to as a group is a restaurant we have fondly named "The Grand." We always order gong bau gi ding (peanuts and chicken), mifan (rice), sweet and sour pork/chicken, garlic broccoli, amazing green beans, and sometimes cucumbers or snow peas. All of these dishes normally come with plenty of sauce (which seems to cancel out the health benefits in my mind... but I still feel kind of healthy eating the vegetables). For dessert, we order jin yian mon tou (delicious sweet rolls served with sweetened condensed milk).
The servers bring out each dish at different times (as soon as they are finished cooking them) and we eat family style. Everyone just uses their chopsticks to take whatever food they want from each dish. It's like the equivalent of scooping everything out with your fork as you are eating throughout the meal. The plates we use are very small, which works out fine because we only eat a little bit at a time usually. We usually leave feeling quite full and satisfied. I don't think I'll ever be able to eat Chinese in the States again. It's just way too good here. It's safe to say that I'm not in any way being starved over here.
Okay, well hopefully that gives you a little bit of a better idea of what it's like here in Beijing. We have our classes in our apartment. We have bus and subway passes to get around town whenever we want and can take taxis if we want. There is still much exploring to do... but I'm going to try to work hard on homework to begin with so that I can just enjoy the last couple of weeks we are here without worrying about anything else.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Life is Beatiful...
Katie and I just finished watching Life is Beautiful. It's such a good movie... very sad, but very sweet. I was reminded of when we watched it together in Shupe my freshmen year. Good times. It's amazing how much perspective affects the way we view different situations... and how strong love can be. Wow.
Loving my Roommates...
Anyway, aside from the movie, I do think life is beautiful (I know I can be rather sappy sometimes...). My roommates just give me the "Oh, Holly" look. We've been having a wonderful time together. I think we're supposed to be having a roommate date to DQ in the next couple of days. It's been really fun getting to know these amazing girls. We have lots of laughs. Unfortunately, our apartment is getting rather disgusting. We need cleaning supplies and some decorations. Bare white walls... dusty floors... no shower curtain in the bathroom... and a dirty kitchen makes for not so good of a combination. I think tomorrow we're going to do some cleaning. After we get things cleaned up and settled, I'll post some pictures (after I catch up on the other ones that I promised). :)
Homework...
This week has been pretty full with homework. We've definitely had more work on this trip than I originally expected. (Please note that I am not complaining... just making an observation. We've definitely been spoiled with travel and vacation time). Chinese has been pretty challenging lately, but hopefully I'll start to catch it. The four different tones are kind of difficult for me to master. Practice, practice, practice. Tomorrow is a free day... Katie and I are going to try to use it to catch up on some homework so that we can enjoy the weekend.
At the Daxue (university)...
Today and yesterday afternoon, we walked to one of the universities to visit an English class. The students were so excited to meet us. They are so eager to learn about our lives in America and are very friendly. We invited them to a party at our place on Friday night. I think we're going to play some games, have some food, and just talk. Hopefully I'll get a chance to practice my very limited Chinese vocabulary.
Subway Adventure...
I almost forgot to mention our adventure on the Subway Sunday afternoon! After church, we decided to go to a Tex Mex place on the other side of town. In order to get there, we had to take the subway. Unfortunately, as our group was boarding the subway, the doors started to close just before Katie and I got on. We didn't know quite what to do as we ran down the line and saw all the doors closing. Brent tried to signal the number "2" with his fingers through the window. We weren't quite sure what he meant... but decided to make the best of it as we watched the subway race past. A Chinese man approached us (in English!) and asked us if we needed help. We told him what happened and he suggested that maybe we were supposed to switch to the "line 2" subway. We weren't about to switch subway lines, so decided to just get on the next subway and hope that our group was at the next one or two stops.
As we waited for the subway to come, I can assure you we were on the yellow line, waiting to be the first ones on when the doors opened. We got off at the first stop and didn't see our group, so quickly jumped back on. At the second stop, we scanned the station and couldn't find our group at first... but then Katie spotted them waiting for us on the side. It was quite an exciting (yet short-lived) adventure. I am pleased to inform you that our visit to the restaurant was well worth the trip. We had some delicious Western food and the servers spoke English! It made me kind of homesick... but in a good way. It was a nice treat. Needless to say, after our little adventure, we decided that we're going to need to figure out the subway and bus system pretty soon. It just might be a good idea... I hope you enjoyed this way-too-detailed story.
I should probably be getting to bed... but will plan to post more tomorrow... and hopefully pictures will be up soon!
Loving my Roommates...
Anyway, aside from the movie, I do think life is beautiful (I know I can be rather sappy sometimes...). My roommates just give me the "Oh, Holly" look. We've been having a wonderful time together. I think we're supposed to be having a roommate date to DQ in the next couple of days. It's been really fun getting to know these amazing girls. We have lots of laughs. Unfortunately, our apartment is getting rather disgusting. We need cleaning supplies and some decorations. Bare white walls... dusty floors... no shower curtain in the bathroom... and a dirty kitchen makes for not so good of a combination. I think tomorrow we're going to do some cleaning. After we get things cleaned up and settled, I'll post some pictures (after I catch up on the other ones that I promised). :)
Homework...
This week has been pretty full with homework. We've definitely had more work on this trip than I originally expected. (Please note that I am not complaining... just making an observation. We've definitely been spoiled with travel and vacation time). Chinese has been pretty challenging lately, but hopefully I'll start to catch it. The four different tones are kind of difficult for me to master. Practice, practice, practice. Tomorrow is a free day... Katie and I are going to try to use it to catch up on some homework so that we can enjoy the weekend.
At the Daxue (university)...
Today and yesterday afternoon, we walked to one of the universities to visit an English class. The students were so excited to meet us. They are so eager to learn about our lives in America and are very friendly. We invited them to a party at our place on Friday night. I think we're going to play some games, have some food, and just talk. Hopefully I'll get a chance to practice my very limited Chinese vocabulary.
Subway Adventure...
I almost forgot to mention our adventure on the Subway Sunday afternoon! After church, we decided to go to a Tex Mex place on the other side of town. In order to get there, we had to take the subway. Unfortunately, as our group was boarding the subway, the doors started to close just before Katie and I got on. We didn't know quite what to do as we ran down the line and saw all the doors closing. Brent tried to signal the number "2" with his fingers through the window. We weren't quite sure what he meant... but decided to make the best of it as we watched the subway race past. A Chinese man approached us (in English!) and asked us if we needed help. We told him what happened and he suggested that maybe we were supposed to switch to the "line 2" subway. We weren't about to switch subway lines, so decided to just get on the next subway and hope that our group was at the next one or two stops.
As we waited for the subway to come, I can assure you we were on the yellow line, waiting to be the first ones on when the doors opened. We got off at the first stop and didn't see our group, so quickly jumped back on. At the second stop, we scanned the station and couldn't find our group at first... but then Katie spotted them waiting for us on the side. It was quite an exciting (yet short-lived) adventure. I am pleased to inform you that our visit to the restaurant was well worth the trip. We had some delicious Western food and the servers spoke English! It made me kind of homesick... but in a good way. It was a nice treat. Needless to say, after our little adventure, we decided that we're going to need to figure out the subway and bus system pretty soon. It just might be a good idea... I hope you enjoyed this way-too-detailed story.
I should probably be getting to bed... but will plan to post more tomorrow... and hopefully pictures will be up soon!
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Life as a Meiguoren Liuxeusheng
Translation: Life as an American foreign student
The last few days have been pretty heavy with homework. All of the traveling is definitely catching up with us. This past week I had three World Civ exams, two Chinese tests, a biography and plenty of reading. The World Civ exams went pretty well. Dr. Schmidt was visiting us from Bethel and it was kind of fun to have him around. He was very good to us... kind of spoiled us with sweet treats and good conversation.
On Monday, we have another Chinese test as well as a book report and research paper to turn in. So guess what I've been up to...
It's definitely been a challenging week...
- overwhelming amounts of homework
- adjusting to living with 13 girls with different ideas of study environments and cleanliness
- having multiple 2 hr. classes (my attention span just isn't that long...)
- feeling kind of homesick
- wishing I could be "there" for my friends
- feeling behind - with classes, emails, updates, etc.
But also a very good week...
- discovering a coffee stand within walking distance... and having a roommate outing... and paying 5 kuai (less than $1 for it)
- good conversations with my roommates... I really like my roommates!
- eating fresh strawberries
- being settled in our spacious apartment
- catching up with dear friends
- finding out my computer is repaired and waiting for me at home
- chatting with my sister online
- escaping to Dairy Queen with Katie, Josh, and Brent
- learning to order food off the street
The last few days have been pretty heavy with homework. All of the traveling is definitely catching up with us. This past week I had three World Civ exams, two Chinese tests, a biography and plenty of reading. The World Civ exams went pretty well. Dr. Schmidt was visiting us from Bethel and it was kind of fun to have him around. He was very good to us... kind of spoiled us with sweet treats and good conversation.
On Monday, we have another Chinese test as well as a book report and research paper to turn in. So guess what I've been up to...
It's definitely been a challenging week...
- overwhelming amounts of homework
- adjusting to living with 13 girls with different ideas of study environments and cleanliness
- having multiple 2 hr. classes (my attention span just isn't that long...)
- feeling kind of homesick
- wishing I could be "there" for my friends
- feeling behind - with classes, emails, updates, etc.
But also a very good week...
- discovering a coffee stand within walking distance... and having a roommate outing... and paying 5 kuai (less than $1 for it)
- good conversations with my roommates... I really like my roommates!
- eating fresh strawberries
- being settled in our spacious apartment
- catching up with dear friends
- finding out my computer is repaired and waiting for me at home
- chatting with my sister online
- escaping to Dairy Queen with Katie, Josh, and Brent
- learning to order food off the street
- starting to run (and buying fresh pineapple off of the street as a reward at the end)
My goal is to be able to run for 30 minutes without stopping by the time I leave China. I'm starting off very slow - alternating five minutes of running with two minutes of walking. So far, I've been actually kind of enjoying it. Josie and I have been running together... it's been good. This morning after running, I felt SO good. Since running is the one exercise I can take with me basically anywhere in the world, I figured it would probably be a good idea to try to start incorporating it into my life.
Tomorrow marks the beginning of a new week. I really am enjoying this time in China. I feel like this is such a season of life to cherish. Even though I miss everyone at home, I know that this is the best place for me right now... and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Time for me to return to studying the life of Mao Zedong and the founding of the People's Republic of China...
My goal is to be able to run for 30 minutes without stopping by the time I leave China. I'm starting off very slow - alternating five minutes of running with two minutes of walking. So far, I've been actually kind of enjoying it. Josie and I have been running together... it's been good. This morning after running, I felt SO good. Since running is the one exercise I can take with me basically anywhere in the world, I figured it would probably be a good idea to try to start incorporating it into my life.
Tomorrow marks the beginning of a new week. I really am enjoying this time in China. I feel like this is such a season of life to cherish. Even though I miss everyone at home, I know that this is the best place for me right now... and I wouldn't have it any other way.
Time for me to return to studying the life of Mao Zedong and the founding of the People's Republic of China...
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Transition Day
March 4, 2008 - Tuesday
Today was a somewhat challenging day. Definitely a transition day. Those of us that have been living in the Guest House had to wheel all of our belongings over to the apartmetns. It was quite a task - and took nearly a half hour. I was amazed by how kind the Chinese people were to us - several offered to help. One Chinese man ended up helping Katie and I wheel our extra suitcases all the way to the apartment. He was very kind and refused any money when I offered to pay him. When we arrived to the apartment, I made a comment about the kindness of the Chinese and I was quickly asked if the guy that helped us was close to my age... I hadn't even though about it until then... but realized it was true. I still think the Chinese are really nice people, though.
After class (in the apartment), we spent the majority of the day doing homework (in the apartment). Twenty+ people (with all of our luggage) crammed in a small apartment designed for seven or less people made for an interesting atmosphere for homework. Thankfully, things went well. I was amazed by how well everyone seemed to get along - especially since we have an overwhelming amount of homework deadlines quickly approaching.
During a study break, Katie and I ventured out, hoping to find some coffee. We successfully found a coffee stand just minutes away from our apartment building. We were so excited! The best part was that the coffee was less than a dollar (five qui) and tasted so good! It was fun to attempt to order with our very limited, broken Chinese. I'm hoping that we'll become friends with the girl that worked there. She seemed so nice.
After dinner, I had my World Civ oral exam, which went fine. I enjoyed talking with Dr. Schmidt. I'm going to try to do a better job at staying informed with what is going on in the world... starting with reading the New York Times headlines that I get every day in my Bethel mail.
We also moved into our apartment tonight. At first, I was kind of nervous about the thirteen of us girls living in one apartment... but I think it's really going to be great. The apartment is SO spacious. I actually feel like I have more room here than I had at the Guest House that we were staying at. It is really nice to be settled again and I think I'm really going to enjoy living with my roommates - Emily, Monica, Katie, Josie, and Sara. Good times to be had!
Today was a somewhat challenging day. Definitely a transition day. Those of us that have been living in the Guest House had to wheel all of our belongings over to the apartmetns. It was quite a task - and took nearly a half hour. I was amazed by how kind the Chinese people were to us - several offered to help. One Chinese man ended up helping Katie and I wheel our extra suitcases all the way to the apartment. He was very kind and refused any money when I offered to pay him. When we arrived to the apartment, I made a comment about the kindness of the Chinese and I was quickly asked if the guy that helped us was close to my age... I hadn't even though about it until then... but realized it was true. I still think the Chinese are really nice people, though.
After class (in the apartment), we spent the majority of the day doing homework (in the apartment). Twenty+ people (with all of our luggage) crammed in a small apartment designed for seven or less people made for an interesting atmosphere for homework. Thankfully, things went well. I was amazed by how well everyone seemed to get along - especially since we have an overwhelming amount of homework deadlines quickly approaching.
During a study break, Katie and I ventured out, hoping to find some coffee. We successfully found a coffee stand just minutes away from our apartment building. We were so excited! The best part was that the coffee was less than a dollar (five qui) and tasted so good! It was fun to attempt to order with our very limited, broken Chinese. I'm hoping that we'll become friends with the girl that worked there. She seemed so nice.
After dinner, I had my World Civ oral exam, which went fine. I enjoyed talking with Dr. Schmidt. I'm going to try to do a better job at staying informed with what is going on in the world... starting with reading the New York Times headlines that I get every day in my Bethel mail.
We also moved into our apartment tonight. At first, I was kind of nervous about the thirteen of us girls living in one apartment... but I think it's really going to be great. The apartment is SO spacious. I actually feel like I have more room here than I had at the Guest House that we were staying at. It is really nice to be settled again and I think I'm really going to enjoy living with my roommates - Emily, Monica, Katie, Josie, and Sara. Good times to be had!
A SWEET day continued...
Okay, so after our return to the Evergreen Hotel (our temporary lodging until moving into the apartments) from the Pearl Market on Sunday, I was greeted with an incredible surprise - a lovely package that some AMAZING girls from Bethel sent along with Josh Hartsell. (Josh went on Pac Rim two years ago and loved China so much that he decided to come back for spring break this year.)
The contents of my delightful package:
-delivered in a Barnes & Noble plastic bag (we love going to B&N to study during school)
-cute woven basket
-Toilet paper - Jana knows China
- chapstick - was just needing some today! (It's really dry here)
- Reeses - I have been craving them since we left (none were available in NZ, Australia, or China!)
- Tea from the abundant supply we had last semester in Egle 101
- black sparkly pens (just ran out last week)
- a pink and brown notebook (two of my FAVORITE colors)
- handmade necklace from Brittney - which makes me feel cute when I wear it
- handmade book with Chinese characters from Nora (which I have yet to decipher)
- pictures from my Kate (I've missed not having pics since my laptop died)
- notes from so many of my dear friends whom I love and miss dearly...
- a special note attached to pixie sticks that made me laugh...
- cute green and brown headband - which goes so well with my green corduroy pants (which I am currently wearing)
Can I just say overwhelmed?! I was so giddy... for like a couple of hours (everyone on the team can attest to it). The cards were so encouraging... I'm looking forward to reading them over and over again. FYI: You girls are amazing!
After various people received various packages from home, we went to KFC for dinner. I am pleased to announce that my chicken was ordered successfully non-spicy. :) After dinner, I hung out at the girls' apartment for awhile before Monica and I walked back to the guest house. I really enjoyed spending time with my team members tonight.
Today was definitely a SWEET day - so encouraging to my heart!
The contents of my delightful package:
-delivered in a Barnes & Noble plastic bag (we love going to B&N to study during school)
-cute woven basket
-Toilet paper - Jana knows China
- chapstick - was just needing some today! (It's really dry here)
- Reeses - I have been craving them since we left (none were available in NZ, Australia, or China!)
- Tea from the abundant supply we had last semester in Egle 101
- black sparkly pens (just ran out last week)
- a pink and brown notebook (two of my FAVORITE colors)
- handmade necklace from Brittney - which makes me feel cute when I wear it
- handmade book with Chinese characters from Nora (which I have yet to decipher)
- pictures from my Kate (I've missed not having pics since my laptop died)
- notes from so many of my dear friends whom I love and miss dearly...
- a special note attached to pixie sticks that made me laugh...
- cute green and brown headband - which goes so well with my green corduroy pants (which I am currently wearing)
Can I just say overwhelmed?! I was so giddy... for like a couple of hours (everyone on the team can attest to it). The cards were so encouraging... I'm looking forward to reading them over and over again. FYI: You girls are amazing!
After various people received various packages from home, we went to KFC for dinner. I am pleased to announce that my chicken was ordered successfully non-spicy. :) After dinner, I hung out at the girls' apartment for awhile before Monica and I walked back to the guest house. I really enjoyed spending time with my team members tonight.
Today was definitely a SWEET day - so encouraging to my heart!
A SWEET day in China...
March 2, 2008 - Sunday
Today was such a SWEET day! We started off the morning going to Beijing International Christian Fellowship. The message was so great - very meaty with lots to digest. It was refreshing. We sang one of my favorite songs at the end of the service, which was also sweet.
After the fellowship, I was feeling really light-headed at the restaurant we went to and ended up having a really bad headache. I was afraid that I was being negatively affected by the water I drank last night, but after a short nap on the bus, I was feeling better.
Temple of Heaven
We went to see the Temple of Heaven after lunch. It was very interesting. I wasn't feeling very well when Rob went over the history of it, so I didn't pay attention very well. I want to learn more about it. As we were leaving the Temple area, we got quite an interesting taste of Chinese culture. I felt like I was walking through a scene in a book (which I cannot adequately describe to you, but will do my best). We passed by numerous dancers, an old woman singing opera on a terrible PA system, women sitting on the ledge knitting, groups of men playing cards, different flavors of music blaring every ten to twenty feet, choirs singing, people conversing, people tossing balls back and forth... it was all so intriguing. I wish I could have video-taped it. I felt like I was in China.
Pearl Market Adventures
From the Temple of Heaven, we went to the Chinese Pearl Market - a market targeted toward English-speaking tourists. We found all sorts of things in the market - bags, coats, pearls, cosmetics, tea sets, trinkets, clothes, shoes, electronics, luggage, etc. The workers are quite aggressive in the market. As we walked past, the typical, recurring conversation went as follows:
"Hey beautiful lady! You want Puma?! I give you good price!"
me- "No thank you"
"Why not?!" (the tone of voice was a mixture of whining, sounding hurt/offended, annoying, and humorous) "Of course you want shoes!"
Katie and I quickly learned some lessons about bargain shopping... through one somewhat shameful venture followed by another extremely successful one. I will start with the shameful one. We saw knock-off Starbucks sweatshirts... and had to stop. We were instructed to make sure that we don't act enamored with items... particularly if we want a good price. After going back and forth bargaining with the ladies selling the sweatshirts, we settled on 190 RMB each (which, I'm ashamed to admit... was $28.50 USD). Originally, they were going to try to sell them for 300 some. So, we got them to come down quite abit. However, we were informed that usually at the Pearl market, the vendors inflate their prices up to 5 x's what the items are really worth.
I quickly learned that it is imperative to decide how much you are willing to pay for an item before you start bargaining. So... I kept this in mind when a woman asked us to buy her Northface coats. (I'd been planning to get a Northface from China for months, so I was excited... but did my best to act somewhat uninterested, if you can imagine that scenario...). I decided ahead of time that I would not pay more than $20 for a Northface. Originally, the lady was going to try to sell them to us for 4600 RMB (which would have had us paying in the hundreds for a coat). We went back and forth for awhile... and she laughed in my face when I typed in 130 RMB on the calculator. Since she wouldn't go any lower, we started to walk away and as we were about to turn the corner, she was yelling, "300, I give you 300! How about 200? Okay, my final price - 150!" With that, I turned around and purchased a two-layered light green Northface for $21. I was quite happy with my purchase. Katie and I decided that we like bargain shopping...
Today was such a SWEET day! We started off the morning going to Beijing International Christian Fellowship. The message was so great - very meaty with lots to digest. It was refreshing. We sang one of my favorite songs at the end of the service, which was also sweet.
After the fellowship, I was feeling really light-headed at the restaurant we went to and ended up having a really bad headache. I was afraid that I was being negatively affected by the water I drank last night, but after a short nap on the bus, I was feeling better.
Temple of Heaven
We went to see the Temple of Heaven after lunch. It was very interesting. I wasn't feeling very well when Rob went over the history of it, so I didn't pay attention very well. I want to learn more about it. As we were leaving the Temple area, we got quite an interesting taste of Chinese culture. I felt like I was walking through a scene in a book (which I cannot adequately describe to you, but will do my best). We passed by numerous dancers, an old woman singing opera on a terrible PA system, women sitting on the ledge knitting, groups of men playing cards, different flavors of music blaring every ten to twenty feet, choirs singing, people conversing, people tossing balls back and forth... it was all so intriguing. I wish I could have video-taped it. I felt like I was in China.
Pearl Market Adventures
From the Temple of Heaven, we went to the Chinese Pearl Market - a market targeted toward English-speaking tourists. We found all sorts of things in the market - bags, coats, pearls, cosmetics, tea sets, trinkets, clothes, shoes, electronics, luggage, etc. The workers are quite aggressive in the market. As we walked past, the typical, recurring conversation went as follows:
"Hey beautiful lady! You want Puma?! I give you good price!"
me- "No thank you"
"Why not?!" (the tone of voice was a mixture of whining, sounding hurt/offended, annoying, and humorous) "Of course you want shoes!"
Katie and I quickly learned some lessons about bargain shopping... through one somewhat shameful venture followed by another extremely successful one. I will start with the shameful one. We saw knock-off Starbucks sweatshirts... and had to stop. We were instructed to make sure that we don't act enamored with items... particularly if we want a good price. After going back and forth bargaining with the ladies selling the sweatshirts, we settled on 190 RMB each (which, I'm ashamed to admit... was $28.50 USD). Originally, they were going to try to sell them for 300 some. So, we got them to come down quite abit. However, we were informed that usually at the Pearl market, the vendors inflate their prices up to 5 x's what the items are really worth.
I quickly learned that it is imperative to decide how much you are willing to pay for an item before you start bargaining. So... I kept this in mind when a woman asked us to buy her Northface coats. (I'd been planning to get a Northface from China for months, so I was excited... but did my best to act somewhat uninterested, if you can imagine that scenario...). I decided ahead of time that I would not pay more than $20 for a Northface. Originally, the lady was going to try to sell them to us for 4600 RMB (which would have had us paying in the hundreds for a coat). We went back and forth for awhile... and she laughed in my face when I typed in 130 RMB on the calculator. Since she wouldn't go any lower, we started to walk away and as we were about to turn the corner, she was yelling, "300, I give you 300! How about 200? Okay, my final price - 150!" With that, I turned around and purchased a two-layered light green Northface for $21. I was quite happy with my purchase. Katie and I decided that we like bargain shopping...
March 1, 2008
We made it to China! Yesterday was definitely a long day of traveling. We woke up at 5:30 a.m. Sydney time (2:30 a.m. Beijing time) and were up until 12:30 a.m. Beijing time. I took a few naps on the plane, but felt like a zombie for most of the day. On the flight from Sydney to Shang'hai, I read through the Analects of Confucius for my Area Study class. I enjoyed reading it and got some further insights into Chinese culture. There is still much to think about and digest.
When we got to the Shang'hai airport, I was determined not to make the same mistake I made last time I was in Shang'hai - spending $7 on coffee and buying bottled water (neglecting to see the free filtered water stand). This time, I bought an orange juice for 6 qui ($1 USD) and filled up by water bottle for free. I was happy with the improved airport experience.
This morning for breakfast, Katie and I didn't have anything else in our room besides a package of oreos. Since our group wasn't planning to meet until noon, we demolished an entire sleeve of them... right before Brent called us to see if we wanted to go get some fresh fruit from one of the street vendors. The oreos weren't very satisfying, so we were quite excited to get some fresh fruit. Already I love China - the food and the cheapness! We bought several mandarin oranges, five bananas, and a freshly cut pineapple all for less than $3 USD! It was a lovely breakfast.
We also went to a market today. I needed a new journal and found one for 12 qui - less than $2! It's a very pretty Chinese looking one, which I was excited about. I also bought a little notebook to write down Chinese phrases that I will need to remember.
Before going to bed, I was brushing my teeth and forgot that I wasn't supposed to drink the water. I was a little nervous before going to bed, but I realized my Father is bigger than water (especially since He created it). So, I think I'll be okay...
When we got to the Shang'hai airport, I was determined not to make the same mistake I made last time I was in Shang'hai - spending $7 on coffee and buying bottled water (neglecting to see the free filtered water stand). This time, I bought an orange juice for 6 qui ($1 USD) and filled up by water bottle for free. I was happy with the improved airport experience.
This morning for breakfast, Katie and I didn't have anything else in our room besides a package of oreos. Since our group wasn't planning to meet until noon, we demolished an entire sleeve of them... right before Brent called us to see if we wanted to go get some fresh fruit from one of the street vendors. The oreos weren't very satisfying, so we were quite excited to get some fresh fruit. Already I love China - the food and the cheapness! We bought several mandarin oranges, five bananas, and a freshly cut pineapple all for less than $3 USD! It was a lovely breakfast.
We also went to a market today. I needed a new journal and found one for 12 qui - less than $2! It's a very pretty Chinese looking one, which I was excited about. I also bought a little notebook to write down Chinese phrases that I will need to remember.
Before going to bed, I was brushing my teeth and forgot that I wasn't supposed to drink the water. I was a little nervous before going to bed, but I realized my Father is bigger than water (especially since He created it). So, I think I'll be okay...
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