Seaside

Hey, my internet's been fixed!

This photo was taken at Binhai Lu, or a long stretch of road along Dalian's coastline. It has gorgeous views and an entire day could be spent walking along the road. Or, if you don't have all day, you can hire a taxi to drive you for a certain distance/length of time. I did this three times; with my two best friends over May Holiday, when my dad came to visit in June, and when my mom visited in September. 

Also, notice the clarity of the water. This is generally not seen in China and is an example of why Dalian is known for being one of the cleanest cities in which to live.

Shennong Stream

An excursion into a tributary of the Yangtze River, with tour guides and boat rowers who are people of the Tujia minority. The boat rowers are also known as 'trackers' and in older days pulled boats while naked through shallow waters. We glided in small sampans through the waters, surrounded by huge cliffs on either side and remnants of their houses and land that are being overtaken for the Three Gorges Dam project. 

Innocence

It looks like this little girl was eating noodles alone, but her grandparents were sitting next to her.

Taken over May Holiday in Chongqing, where we had disembarked from our ship after days on the Yangtze River. We were waiting in this area for someone to offer their services as our van driver; because it was the actual May Holiday (May 1st), free and willing drivers were scarce. So I took pictures of people while we waited.

Photo of the Day: Sunset on the Yangtze

For our week-long May Holiday vacation, my study abroad group started with a four-day cruise on the Yangtze River. We set sail from Wuhan and sailed upriver to Chongqing, stopping along the way at various cities affected by the Three Gorges Dam, as well as visiting the dam project itself. Funny thing was, the cruise was marketed towards Germans- so the majority of the passengers were German or Dutch, and all announcements were made first in German, then English.

The gorges, which are also depicted on the back of the 10 rmb bill, were incredible. Sailing through them while sitting on the top deck, with the sun on our faces and wind in our hair, was indescribably relaxing. Being surrounded by such tranquility in nature led to much introspection and (greatly needed) clarity within all of us.

Of my entire year in China, cruising the Yangtze was my absolute favorite experience. (National Holiday in Ningxia being the second and the Harbin Ice Festival, third.)

Photo of the Day: At Ease

My first time in Beijing! These guys passed by while we were on the way into the Forbidden City. May in China is already pretty warm, so I imagine they were roasting in those uniforms. They seemed at ease enough, though who knows with those looks of determination.

Today's picture was actually picked by my good friend Leanna, who I met in Dalian and came with me on this trip. All she had to say on this was, "They're really skinny."

Photo of the Day: Curiosity

One of my favorite pictures from the entire year.

Photo of the Day: Ghost City of Fengdu

An overview of the city of Fengdu from the top of one of the hills; the city is on the Yangtze River and is part of the ongoing Three Gorges Dam project. It is believed that all souls come here first after death, before moving on to 'other' places (wherever they may be)

Photo of the Day: Waiting for the Tourists

Photo of the Day: Boats Adrift

On the Yangtze River, where tourist cruise ships would dock ('cruise' in this sense means like the big white boat in the background, not Royal Carribean style!)

Photo of the Day: Wild Puppies

Photo of the Day: Dazu Rock Carvings

A UNESCO World Heritage Site in Dazu County, in Chongqing. The carvings were from the 7th century. This photo has no perspective but the giant Buddhas were about six times the height of us- Massive!

Starting Over

I don't know why exactly I stopped writing. In fact, so much has happened in the last three months that I wouldn't even know where to start, were I to catch up from April 24th on.

What I do know, however, is that I have missed blogging. I read through my old entries and wish I'd kept with it, if anything just to laugh at my predictions for the future. The only excuse I have (and it isn't much of one at all) is that so much was happening, so fast, that I felt overwhelmed by it all and eventually gave up on blogging about it and focused on just surviving life in Dalian.

SO! I have decided to bring back the blog. I am spending another semester in Dalian, another five months in China altogether starting on Monday, and my first step in the grand scheme of my life is to outline some goals. (Hey, baby steps.)

1. In the next five months, I want to update at least three times a week (when internet access is available)
2. I want to focus less on making money and socializing and more on becoming proficient in Chinese.
3. I want to seriously consider taking the HSK.
4. I want to NOT know exactly what I want to do, but perhaps do research into grad schools or other career paths post-graduation.
5. I want to spend no more than 500 kuai a week (~70 USD)
6. I want to talk to my sister at least once a week.

==

For those who are interested, a brief recap of the last three months:
-May Holiday was a week on the Yangtze River, and a day in Chongqing/Dazu and a few hours in Beijing, during which I really started to become close with Andy Z and Leanna
-I returned to training with the Dalian Wolfhounds Gaelic Football Team
-Celebrated Cinco de Mayo with Kathleen and some close friends
-Sichuan Earthquake hit on May 12 and while we were about as far away in China as possible, it was extremely impressive how the country reacted
-My expat friends started getting stopped for visas and passports quite frequently
-Went to a housewarming party of another friend...became very social in general
-Went back to Beijing the weekend of the 16-18 with BCA again, met with Etowners
-Cancelled my trip to Shanghai for my birthday and celebrated with friends in Dalian
-However, because of the 3 day bar ban that resulted from the May 12 Sichuan Earthquake the week before we didn't really have anywhere to go after dinner
-Went to Beijing for the All China Gaelic Games June 6-8 => so far, the best weekend of my life
-My father visited the second week of June and after seeing Binhai Lu and Xinghai Square, loved the city
-Started tutoring a Korean student in Math and English for the Dalian minimum: 150 rmb/21.50 USD an hour
-A friend opened up a bar/restaurant called Brooklyn that is doing extremely well among the expats
-Come June, everyone started leaving! Expat turnover in smaller cities like Dalian is constant
-Finals were a mess! I really lost focus the last two weeks of the semester
-Went to Shanghai July 6th, met some friends, left the 9th back to the States
-Since being back in the States, haven't done much, but did go to Cape May, NJ to stay with Andy Z for a few days, then stopped in Philly on the way home to visit Amiekay for a night as well
-Yesterday was my sister's 12th birthday, but my father and I have had huge issues discussing my Future so I am currently living with Lys, Ryan and Nikol in their new apartment and feel bad about not being close to my sister
-Was not wanting to go back to China because of pre-Olympic madness, but since row with father, don't really know where I want to be right now. The US has my friends, but I can't stay at home; while Shanghai is extremely humid and housing is tricky...was going to travel but now don't know since my funds are low and my parents might not want to help me with expenses anymore....

So that's a decent, if not brief, overview of what my life has become in Dalian and the summer so far. I'll write more in the morning, I'm exhausted from the last two days of family drama.

Spring Fever

Spring Fever has hit Dalian. Right after midterms ended, the sun came back out and now everything is in bloom. It's still a bit chilly and windy, but I that's what you get when you live in the north, by the sea.

Everything is now in bloom; it's crazy to think what's happened in the time since I last saw proper flora. I feel like last September/October was years ago- SO much has changed, both good and bad.

F and I went backpack shopping in Victory Square the other day; we walked all the way down and back, and it's a decent half hour walk maybe. While at Victory we saw some Chinese in camo all lined up in three rows, doing drills of some sort. They were counting off, marching back and forth in the square, and overall seemed very disciplined- it was really neat to watch. There were also some Navy people in the small base down at the bottom of the hill who seemed to be running drills as well, and they're fun to watch because they have those tassels hanging off their sailor caps and it looks ridiculously cute for a military officer.

On the way back to Dawai then we saw money in huge silver briefcases being transported into a bank, and the van with the money in it was surrounded by about six Chinese men- two with walkie talkies, two with clubs, and two with guns that looked like they could really mess you up. That was also quite exciting; F and I were like WHOA at the guns haha. I mentioned that I'd never really been that close to a gun before and F goes, "Really? But you're from America."

So now that midterms are over I've basically checked out mentally; everyone has. Lots of people have been skipping class in favor of going outside or catching up on sleep; Leanna and her class even convinced their teacher to take them to Labor Park and ride bumper cars instead of teaching their second class. Although some people have the HSK today, which is the Chinese proficiency test, so they've still been studying.

However, after that, I know everyone is pretty much checked out as well because May Holiday is right around the corner. I don't know how many people are traveling, but I think it's a decent amount just because the Koreans can go home so easily.

Danny, our director, is taking the six of us BCA kids on a six day trip around China: We leave tomorrow morning on a 7:35 flight to Wuhan, from there take a four hour bus to Yichang, board a boat there, spend three days going up the Yellow River and seeing the Three Gorges Dam and get off at Chongqing (most people go from Chongqing to Wuhan so it will be cool to go the opposite direction), tour there and Dazu, fly back to Beijing, spend about five hours there, having dinner at a Peking duck restaurant that's supposed to be really good, then arriving back late Friday evening. We'll be missing Monday and Tuesday classes (Wednesday starts the school break), but there's some sort of school-wide sports competition going on (like Track and Field Day back at Central) those two days so we're not missing much.

Then when we come back, school is still out til the 7th or 8th so we have four or five days yet to relax. So today I have to meet a new tutee from 11:30-1:30, tutor my regular girl from 2-4, then buy a backpack, pack for the trip, and then I'll be all set to go for the next week and a half.