I Need More Time

T-Minus 3 days:

I suppose as is the case with this sort of expedition, it is in these last few days that I'm finally beginning to realize how shallow my understanding of China is, and how much more there is that I am eager to experience. I say this not from a regretful point of view, but rather as an affirmation of a sense that I felt going all the way back to the start of this summer, which I believe has a lot to do with the nature of my interest in China. Clearly I'm very intrigued by this country, but if I had to pick an area of particular interest, I would have to say I'm most excited to learn more about this culture and to potentially witness China's ascent to a predominant position of geopolitical and economic influence (in case you're wondering, I stole that last phrase from the personal statement portion of my application of HBA).

The more time I spend here in Beijing, the more I begin to realize how much more I have to learn, and I'd like to think I'm relatively China-savvy (at least as far as the average American goes). Granted I say this on the basis of relatively limited experience, but I get the sense that most Americans really have no clue what life is like China. Perhaps the most worrisome aspect of this American ignorance is the fact that a lot of people have this idea that modern day China has retained the Big Brother-esque aspects that some might argue were characteristic of Chinese society during the Mao Zedong era. And while Mao's policies certain continue to influence the culture here, they are, as of late, getting some serious competition from Western ideals. We recently read an article in our textbook which asserted that the Chinese political environment is getting increasingly more liberal (liberal in the freedom sense, not the left-right spectrum sense). Whether it is due to conscious changes in the system or simply an unintentional result of the government's economic development policies is not entirely clear, but it would appear as if change is certainly on the horizon.

This past Monday, I went out to eat with my Chinese parents, and had a wonderful conversation with my "mom" regarding the whole aspect of personal freedom here in China. Obviously, the idea of a set of natural rights is something that American society is based upon. Historically, that has not been the case here in China, but from what my Chinese mother told me, the amount of personal freedom that the average Chinese person has today is steadily growing. At this point, Chinese people are comfortable with speaking their mind regarding politics, the economy, and the rest of the world. And although you would have a hard time finding any public protests in Beijing, there is a thriving underground world that fearlessly criticizes the government and shines light on the relatively oppressive aspects of Chinese culture through music, art, and other media.

I'm now three paragraphs deep in this post and beginning to regret starting off on this subject due to the fact that I could literally go on for days discussing the things I have learned and still wish to learn about this country. In the interest of time, I'll leave you with this: There is no doubt in my mind that I'll head back to China (perhaps a few times) before my college days are over. The more I learn about the culture here the more new doors open up, and the more I realize how much more there is to learn. At this point in time, I think it would be naive to deny the responsibility the Western world (especially America) has in trying to gain a better understanding of China (I would say this goes both ways, but considering English is a already a mandatory class at all high schools here, I'd say they have a significant head start). It's my own personal opinion that the residual fear/hatred many Americans harbor towards anything having to do with the "Commies" has kept us in a state of relative denial and unfamiliarity. But I am also confident that the walls are rapidly crumbling, and programs like the Light Fellowship have the potential to bring America and China into a new era of understanding - economically, politically, and culturally.

I'm truly blessed to be a part of this amazing process.

As always,

Jamey

For Next Year's HBA Students

My Daily Schedule (usually)

6:00 AM - Wake-up, shower, review characters for morning dictation

8:00 AM - Large Class: Overview of current lesson's grammar points (12 students, 1 teacher)

9:25 AM - Reading Class: Read over lesson text with teacher (4 students, 1 teacher)

10:10 AM - Small Class: In-depth review of grammar, students respond to questions using new grammar patterns (4 students, 1 teacher)

11:20 AM - Discussion Class: second-semester only, students discuss the day's lesson and engage in debate regarding issues brought up by the text (2 or 3 students, 1 teacher)

12:00 PM - Lunch break

1:30/2:25 - One-on-one with teacher, relatively relaxed conversation and speaking practice

3:30 PM - Freedom

11:00 PM - Sleepy-time

Notes:

There is a ten-minute break between the Large and Reading classes and a twenty-minute break between Small Class and Discussion Class. As I mentioned above, Discussion Class only took place second-semester, so first-semester we had two sessions of Small Class (10:10-11:00 and 11:10-12:00). In terms of the seven-and-a-half hour period I call "Freedom", I never had a completely set in stone plan. Usually I'd spend the afternoon/night reviewing the next day's lesson, working out, relaxing, and eating dinner.

Suggestions:

1) I found that it was a much better use of my time to use my 10 and 20-minute break periods working on homework as opposed to chatting in the hallway. Call me anti-social but it really made my afternoons a lot more enjoyable/open.

2) Bring note-cards for learning vocabulary. My primary method for learning new words, starting from back at Yale, was writing them over and over on my blackboard. But this past week all my dry-erase markers dried out, so I was forced to start making little note-cards from a small note-pad I brought along. So far I think this has turned out to be a better method.

3) Find something to keep your mind off all the work, e.g. working out, talking to friends back home, watching TV/YouTube, blogging, etc.

4) If you don't have a good friend here in Beijing, make one. It's really hard to get through the first few weeks on your own, so it's a good idea to find someone you enjoy hanging out with, this really helps take the edge off homesickness and the anxiety that HBA's workload sometimes causes (more on the whole workload aspect in a sec).

5) Go on as many HBA sponsored trips as possible. HBA sets up weekly field trips to the coolest, prettiest, and oldest places in the Beijing area, and anyone who has seen my Facebook photo albums knows how much I enjoyed these excursions.

6) Have fun. Beijing has an awesome bar/club scene that is definitely worth checking out. Even if your not into that stuff, there is no shortage of interesting places in this city. Don't be overly anxious about studying, especially on the weekends.

Now for the part that everyone has been waiting for...

The HBA Workload (my estimation)

- 65 new words per night (on average, some lessons it's closer to 75 and others more like 50)

- 8 pages of homework per week (4 lessons a week, 2 pages per lesson)

- 1 essay per week (used for Oral Exams)

- 1 test per week (Written and Oral)

This may sound like a lot to kids who haven't even finished L2 at Yale, especially in light of L1/L2's new vocabulary requirements. To be honest, it is not bad at all. I am completely confident that anyone talented enough to get into Yale has what it takes to get through HBA. There have been some nights that required more effort than others, and certain tests are rougher than others, but all in all it's nowhere near impossible.

I don't want to give anyone the wrong impression - HBA is rigorous, it lives up to it's reputation, and it will test your ability to learn Chinese at a very fast pace. I can remember some nights feeling like I'd never get through all the new words. And there were certainly weeks (towards the beginning) where I wished I was back home hanging out at the beach getting a tan. It is tough, and performing well here requires dedication and a willingness to bust your ass. That being said, the reward is certainly worth the hard work.

Before coming to Beijing, my Mandarin speaking and listening proficiency was mediocre at best. I can remember eating at the mandatory Chinese table sessions back at Yale and struggling to communicate effectively with teachers and higher level students. At this point, I feel comfortable engaging in full-blown conversations with real Chinese people. I've had the opportunity to chat with kung-fu students about their lifestyles and potential future careers. This past week, I wrote a 300-character composition on my attitude toward people who cheat on their significant others. I've already told my parents and teachers that my Chinese now, after one year, is better than my Spanish ever was (I took Spanish for five years in junior high and high school). HBA is the real deal, and anyone who is really interested in learning this language would be do themselves a huge favor by coming here.

Overall Message:

HBA is certainly deserving of the description "intensive language-study summer program". But for anyone who has a serious interest in Mandarin, and learning as much as possible in two months, studying here is a phenomenal idea. Contrary to what you may have heard, it's very possible to get good grades (even by Yale standards) while enjoying yourself here at HBA. I'd be hard pressed to find a fellow student who did now have a blast this past summer.

HBA>Duke>PIB,

Jamey

Blogging > Studying

Hey guys,

Question #1.

With tomorrow's test looming large on the horizon, am I currently...

A) Playing Mario Kart 64 on my computer

B) Listening to Nujabes/Non Phixion Radio on Pandora

C) Reviewing grammar patterns and new vocabulary

D) Watching episodes of "Lost" on hulu.com

E) A, B, and D

I'll leave it up to you to decide for yourselves.

For my parents' sake I'll have you all know that I've already looked over this weeks lessons and feel prepared to take on the test tomorrow. Unlike some other Thursdays, which sometimes get pretty hectic, I've got a bit of free time on my hands today. It's so hard to believe that a week from now I'll be sitting in my room studying up for the FINAL EXAM. Speaking of finals, I was just talking to my Yale roommate Nick earlier today who is also studying here in Beijing - he's doing the Duke in China program. Unlike us HBA kids, this was their last week, so he's probably buried in 语法 and 生词 right now. I certainly don't envy that, but I am a little jealous he'll be heading back to his family within a few days.

Since I landed in Beijing, my attitude has constantly oscillated between loving Beijing and wishing I was back home (maybe that's a little bit off - I would say it wasn't until the second or third week that I felt really comfortable here). But ever since then I've managed to slog through all the school work while exploring some of China's most impressive sites on the weekends and during the social study week. It hasn't really hit me yet, but I think I'll start to realize next week how much I'll miss this place and all the fun I've had with all the teachers and students. It's a strange thought that I might never see some of these teachers ever again once I head back to the States, but there's no doubt that I'll never forget them.

In terms of the whole missing home aspect, I think I've reached a new level of awareness regarding my own age/maturity. I'd like to think I'm a pretty independent kid - someone who isn't fazed by attending college miles away from home or spending a summer on the other side of the planet - and while I would say that is the case to a degree, I think I've still got some room to grow as far as taking on the real world is concerned. I think this is especially reflected in my current indecisiveness toward my major/potential career paths, as well as the fact that I was really homesick for about the first ten days here in Beijing. But like I said in an earlier post, not being certain about the future isn't a bad thing as far as I'm concerned, and I think the fact that I have some maturing to do before I graduate college makes me even more excited to take advantage of my next three years at Yale.

But anyway, it's right around dinner time here so I'm going to head out. This weekend is bound to be pretty frenzied, what with our gongfu performance at Beijing Night on Saturday and the speech contest on Sunday. I'll have my hands full to say the least, but I'd like to get in another post before next week, so stayed tuned.

T-minus one week,

Jamey

Sorry for the Confusion!

Hey guys just wanted to make a point to say that I completely made up the whole thing about Jimmy Page climbing Song Shan and coming up with Stairway to Heaven. Hope it's not too big an issue.

Still Playing Catch Up

Hello all,

So unfortunately I'm still about a week behind on this whole blogging thing. I'm going to try to catch up within the next week or so, if for no other reason than to make sure I'm meeting the 2 post per week average that I'm supposed to be following. For that reason, these next few posts will likely be on the shorter side, but I'll still try to hit on the coolest things going on here in China.

Last weekend we took a trip to the 798 Art Festival in Beijing. Those of you familiar with my tastes in art know that I'm have somewhat of an obsession with graffiti/street-style art, which explains the feeling of being overwhelmed I felt while walking around 798. I have a hard time explained what this "art festival" actually entailed. I guess the best way to describe it is what appears to be a former industrial area that is now covered in graffiti, and features emptied out factory rooms which now hold every type of modern-ish art imaginable.

[interpretation of my thoughts] : THIS PLACE IS TOO COOL.

I don't really know what it is about graff that really gets me going. Too be honest the only reason that comes to mind is that it looks "cool". But I don't really know what that means...

Some people appreciate art for it's historical value. Others appreciate art because it challenges the viewer to make his or her own interpretation. Others still appreciate art because it's just a "sophisticated" thing to do. I've always been a very visual person in terms of learning and understanding concepts, and for whatever reason the shapes that graffiti artists use just really strike me.

I feel like right now I should say something like "So forum, what is your favorite style of art, and why? Leave your interesting or creative responses in the comment section below." Sort of a strange post, I know. That's what happens when you have been listening to dubstep and have about a million things going on in your mind besides blogging. This week is going to be a busy one for me. I'm planning on taking the HSK Test this coming Friday, which is a standardized test that anyone who wants to work in China has to take. To friends and family, don't worry I'm not planning on doing any work in China anytime soon, it's just that HBA offers the HSK free of charge while signing up on my own could run upwards of $100. Besides the HSK, I'll be participating in the annual Beijing Speech Competition, which features students from all the various American summer programs in Beijing and Tianjin. The topic of my speech is my week at the Shaolin Temple and my experience learning gongfu (and here I was thinking high school graduation was the last time I'd have to give a speech in front of a bunch of people).

Anyway hope all of you are making the most of the last few weeks of the summer. I still can't believe two weeks from now I'll be sitting at home in Palatine. I think I'll do another post regarding the whole "time flying" aspect of this trip, so check back for that next time. Until then have a great Sunday.

Cheers,

Jamey

P.S. Check out Facebook for my 798 Art Festival photo album. Pretty cool stuff if you ask me.

Longest Staircase on Earth (Shaolin Temple Part 2)

A little rock n' roll history for your troubles, the picture to the left was taken at the exact location from which the phrase "Stairway to Heaven" originated. In 1968, Jimmy Page spent a summer in China's Henan province and at the foot Song Mountain's longest set of stairs composed the piece that would later become Led Zeppelin's most celebrated, well-know song.................. just kidding.

On to Part 2 of our (# yet to be determined) part revisitation of my week at the Shaolin Temple. While I absolutely loved learned gongfu, I would have to say the most memorable experience I had was climbing Song Mountain. This mountain range, on which the Shoalin Temple sits, is the central of China's Five Great Mountains. These five, Tai Shan, Hua Shan, Nan Heng Shan, Bei Heng Shan, and Song Shan, are said to be sacred under the Taoist religion, and in the past have served as destinations for pilgrimage. I'm not entirely certain of the role these mountains play in today's Taoism, but the views from the peak and the general scenery certainly seem deserving of the label "sacred".

As evidenced by the picture, I say that we climbed Song Shan in the climbing stairs sense, not the whole rope and carabiner routine. But walking up what I imagine must have been thousands of stairs was no small task, especially having practiced gongfu for six hours the day before. There was a distinct humbling aspect about this experience, as I watched 60+ year-old Chinese women keeping pace with me and the rest of our group, not to mention the absense of sweat on their faces and clothes (I looked like I had jumped in a pool fully-clothed by the end of it). From what one old gentleman told us, it isn't uncommon for him and his friends/family to make weekly trips up and down the mountain. As I spend more time here, it's becoming more and more clear how China has managed to kept obesity in check, despite the efforts of American fast food joints.

As exhausting as the whole process might have been, the landscapes I witnessed on Song Shan made it all worth it. I have no significant complaints about growing up in the Midwest, but that part of the United States doesn't really offer up any great opportunities for witnessing the true power and beauty of nature. To say the least, the views at the peak of Song Shan rendered me speechless. It's still difficult now to put into words my feelings as I stood thousands of feet above sea level, looking out over the mist-shrouded landscape. Contrary to my initial reaction (one of dismay), the foggy atmosphere just added to the almost surreal nature of the surroundings. For those of you who have climbed mountains, I'm sure you understand what I am trying to convey, and for those of you who have not had that opportunity I encourage you to check out the rest of the photo album on my Facebook. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, or as I say, a picture is a good way to distract people from my inability to use words as an effective was of describing my experience...

Anyway that's all for right now. It's actually Sunday afternoon right now, and I'm about to start my third to last week here in Beijing. At this point, as the Light Fellowship people promised, time is really starting to fly by, and I'm going to try my best to really take advantage of the time I have left. Hope you guys enjoyed Part 2 (which may or may not be the last part of the Shaolin trip posts), and I'll see you next time.

明天见！

Jamey

Way Too Much to Talk About (Shaolin Temple Part 1)

So it's already been more than two weeks since my last post (which probably won't go over well with the Light Fellowship people), but you can't blame me because all of last week was spent at the Shaolin Temple, without any internet access. Even so, I have a feeling that had there been an opportunity to get on the internet I still wouldn't have had time to write anything given the nature of my week. I don't really know how to go about chronicling everything that went on, because I think I could literally go on for hours and no one wants to read a timeline anyway. So here are some of the highlights.

Over the course of last week, we visited the Shaolin Temple, Zhongyue Temple, Songyang Private School, White Horse Temple, Tagou Martial Arts Academy, Longmen Caves, and Song Mountain. The picture up above was taken in the monk cemetery that sits next to the Shaolin Temple, and you can check out my Facebook for more pictures of the other destinations. Every morning, we would wake up around 5:30 AM to prepare for our 6 AM morning workout, which was essentially little more than a warmup. Then, after 7:30 breakfast, we would either head off on a trip or begin the real gongfu.

Out of the six full days at Shaolin, we had two full days of gongfu, while the rest were spent visiting the temples, caves, and mountains. The gongfu days were surprisingly difficult. Since I haven't exactly been working out as often as I would like to here in China, my legs were in rough shape after five or six hours of squatting down into the various gongfu "positions". However, I quickly realized that it wasn't brute strength that I lacked, but flexibility. Like many Asian martial arts, gongfu is more about mastering grace, control, and finesse than it is about raw power. To that end, many of the students and teachers at the Martial Arts School were smaller in build than me, but I still wouldn't want to come face-to-face with any of them in a fight. Due to the fact that most of the sports I've played don't place a high price on flexibility, my legs are a little more stiff than I'd like, and at times when practicing gongfu I struggled to imitate the motions and fluidity of our teacher. That being said, I'd like to think I'm always up for a good challenge, and studying gongfu ended up being a truly phenomenal experience.

Right now it's 9:15 PM here in Beijing, and I have yet to start studying tomorrow's new vocabulary. That being the case, I think I'm going to stop here, and save the rest of the Shaolin trip for tomorrow. Hope you enjoyed this little snippet, and I'll get going on Part 2 tomorrow.

Best,

Jamey

The Summer Palace and Lunch with Ducks

Dear Blog,

Can't believe it's already Saturday! It feels like just yesterday that I was uploading all my Forbidden City pictures. Time is really starting to fly here in Beijing... haven't quite decided whether that's is a good or bad thing. This past week we learned an old Chinese saying “时间好像流水一样”, which basically translates to "time passes like running water". The older I get the more that seems to be the case, but I'll save discussing my perception of time for another post.

Today my "brother" and I spent the morning and midday hours with our Chinese family (my brother being Andrew Kang, another Yale kid here in Beijing). As part of the program, Chinese families volunteer to "adopt" two HBA kids for the summer. Andrew and I were lucky enough to have been adopted by the nicest, most giving family in all of China. I feel like I meant to

write about this in another post but I think I ended up just telling my parents when I Skyped with them. Two weekends ago I had dinner at our family's house, and in the process learned how to make Chinese dumplings and experience white liquor for the first time. There were only three of us eating but my "mom" made about nine different dishes, and by the time I had eaten my fill there was more than enough food to feed three or four more people. From what I've heard here and even back at Yale that's pretty much standard procedure when guests come for dinner.

But anyway, this morning we took a trip to the Summer Palace, which is about 15 minutes away from my dorm at Beiyu. The Summer Palace is the place where the Chinese emperors and royalty would come to hang out during the summer, both to relax and to get away from the crowds of central Beijing. It's really more park than palace, and it's set right next to a huge lake (as shown in the picture to the left).

We spent about three hours walking around but, as is the case with most of the places I've visited so far, I feel like we could have explored for an entire day without seeing everything. The scenery there was gorgeous, and we were lucky enough to be graced with blue skies. For all of you who are unfamiliar, Beijing has notoriously smoggy air, so most of the time during the summer the sky takes on a murky blue-tinged grey hue. However, rain is moderately successful in pulling smog out of the air, and since we had some pretty heavy rain a few days ago the air is still relatively clean.

After the Summer Palace, we met up with my Chinese "older brother" and his wife at a local restaurant to experience somewhat of a specialty here in Beijing: roast duck. Before coming to China, I had plenty of people tell me that the fact that I liked American Chinese food did not guarantee I would like real Chinese food. Luckily, I've yet to find a dish here that I did not like (I haven't tried dog meat yet so that's still on the to-do list). But honestly, the food here is phenomenal, I'm a huge fan of the cafeteria at Beiyu, which offers great food at a ridiculously low price - a plate of scrambled eggs and roast chicken with a bowl of rice runs you 10.50 RMB, or about $1.55 (quite a steal).

Today's lunch was phenomenal. The roast duck was very good, as were the various other pork, chicken, and vegetable dishes that we had. Here in China, the people have developed a wonderful system for eating a meal. At most restaurants, there's a huge revolving plate-type thing in the middle of each table. When you order food, everyone at the table picks a dish or two that they would like, but unlike eating in America, everyone shares with everyone else. All the dishes are placed all the revolving plate on the table and then everyone can try a little of all the different foods. This method is incredibly useful for people like me who either a) enjoy incorporating as many different flavors into one meal as possible or b) are familiar with/don't know the names of many Chinese dishes. I suppose we can thank mysophobia for keeping this procedure out of America...

Overall it was another very exciting Saturday for me. Still haven't wrapped my head around the fact that a week from now I'll be learning kung-fu at the Shaolin Temple. But before then I have to make it through another week of classes, which happens to include a midterm exam and a 10-15 minute oral presentation :-/.

Hope you guys are still enjoying this blog. Right now I'm actually working on a few videos and slideshows that I'd like to post up here, so hopefully I make some progress on that front pretty soon. I'm all out of stories for right now, so I'll sign off for now.

Until next time,

Jamey

Looking Toward the Future on Laundry Day

Today I successfully did my first load of laundry here in Beijing, but as the picture above demonstrates, I use the term "successfully" in a very liberal sense. It wasn't so much the washing of the clothes as it was the drying that gave me trouble. Apparently according to Chinese dryers, medium heat dries your clothes about halfway. But I suppose I can't complain, since according to the dictionary, the adjective "medium" is defined as "the middle between two extremes of some quality". In this situation the two extremes would have to be wet and dry, so I guess the dryer did exactly what I told it to do...

Aside from being completely surrounded by my damp clothes, I'm feeling pretty good right now. As of last Friday, I've finished a quarter of my term at HBA, and as much as I miss home, my friends, and my family, I think I've reached a point where I can confidently say that I'm both proud and glad that I made the decision to spent the summer studying Chinese.

At this point in my life, it's rather difficult to imagine where I'll been in five or ten years. I have yet to decide my major at Yale, and I can't say that I'm much closer to making that decision than I was a year ago, with my career at Yale fully in front of me. But that being said, I strongly believe that the major decisions I'm making (and have made) will have a large impact on my future. When I decided to apply for the Light Fellowship (which provided the funding for my study here in China), I wasn't even completely sure that I'd end up here. I can remember the day that some former Light Fellows came into our Chinese class last year and introduced us to the program. It had to have been within the first two months of school, and at that point my study of the Chinese language had barely begun. I had a hard time feeling certain that I'd stick with the language for the three required semesters, let alone pack my stuff up over the summer and head to China.

But here I am.

I don't really have any idea whether I'll ever master this language, or even if I do, whether I'll end up in a career where I can make use of the skills I'm learning right now. But ever since high school, I've always felt that in times of uncertainty, the best course of action is to keep as many doors open as possible.

In high school, I wrote an essay as part of my application for the Daily Herald's academic team. In essence, I wrote about how high school is like being thrown into a mansion with hundreds of rooms, these doors representing the multitude of academic, athletic, and extra-curricular opportunities. And during high school, you can open the doors to these rooms, peek in, and see what you think, but you can't go in - yet. Then I wrote how college is the time where you get to think about all the rooms you've looked into, and eventually you decide which room you want to live in (this representing the process of deciding on a major). As I stand right now, I'm still out in the hallway, I haven't quite decided which room is mine. But the advantage that I feel I've given myself - as a result of this summer in China and my other academic and extra-curricular decisions- is that I haven't shut any of the doors for good.

I suppose there are two schools of thought on this whole premise. There's my open-door policy, and there are those would say that keeping so many doors open leaves you vulnerable to over-extension and/or indecision. And at times, I can't help but think it might be easier to settle on something and stick with it, leaving all else behind. But as a rising college sophomore who still wants to learn more about economics, psychology, philosophy, international relations, China, and a host of other things, I don't think I'm quite ready. And as a 19-year-old who still loves to draw, paint, sing, play guitar, skateboard, and play video games, I just haven't made up my mind.

And I don't think there's anything wrong with that... do you?

In the next three years, I'll experience new classes and make new discoveries that will lead me to that decision, and I don't think there's any call for rushing the process. In the summer before my sophomore year of high school, I didn't know half the things I knew the day I stood before my classmates giving our graduation speech. And I have a hard time believing I won't feel the same way by the time I'm walking through Harkness Gate on my Yale graduation day.

But for now, I've got seven more weeks of learning Chinese to worry about. And for now, there's no point in having anything else but that in the front of my mind.

Existentially yours,

Jamey

The Forbidden City and Week #2

大家好!

Just got back from my latest Saturday trip, and

you know what that means... BLOGGING TIME.

Today we traveled to the Forbidden City, one of

Beijing's most well-known landmarks. For all of you Disney fans out there, this is where the big fight scene in "Mulan" takes place. The Forbidden City was home to the emperors of some of the great Chinese dynasties. To give you an idea of how big the place really is, it literally would take a good ten or fifteen minutes to get from the south entrance to the north gate. Imagine what a hassle it must have been to get the door when people rang...

There are essentially two parts of the Forbidden City, the first being the squares and palaces in the front, and the second being the back garden. The buildings in the City are essentially what comes to mind when you think about typical ancient Chinese architecture - red buildings accented with gold, sloping roofs, pillars, etc. I feel like I've seen these style in photos hundreds of times, but there is little that can prepare you for witnessing it in real life. It's hard to put into words the magnitude of intricacy and beauty that I witnessed in these structures. Throughout our visit, I tried to imagine what it was like thousands of years ago, without all the tourists milling about, and I could barely fathom the idea that at some point, this was someone's home.

The front palace area was striking due simply to the size, but I found myself even more fascinated by the back garden area. Here, the architecture was complemented by a backdrop of rock formations and trees, the red pavilions even more impressive against natures greens and grays. To put it simply, it would have been a hell of a backyard to hang out in.

But unfortunately this week I did more than explore a Chinese national landmark, I also learned some more Chinese. Hard to believe that I'm already through with two weeks. It's even harder to believe that in two more weeks I'll be on a train headed for the Shaolin Temple!

For those of you who aren't especially familiar with the way this summer program works (which I would imagine is most of you), I spend nine weeks here in China, eight of them in Beijing studying the Chinese language, and one of them elsewhere doing a social study project. This year we had about eight different destinations to choose from for the social study, the most interesting (according to me) being Shaolin, Shanghai, and Inner Mongolia. This past week I decided on Shaolin, where I'll get to meet some monks, see some sights, and not least of all, learn some kung-fu! I'll update you guys on that whole front as the time nears.

Anyway, it's about six in the evening here in Beijing which means it's time for me to shower up and hit club scene like it's 1993 (I don't know what that means). Hope you guys enjoyed this week's edition of Jamey goes someplace cool in China and writes about it.

Stay cron-j'ed,

James

长城 (Great Wall)

Surviving Week One

So it's been about a week since I last posted something here. This is primarily due to the fact that this past week has been perhaps the busiest and longest of my entire life. I've literally been in Beijing for seven days and it feels like I've been here for months. But I have a feeling now that I've got the first week of class, the first week of homework, the first test, etc. out of the way, these next two months will be a lot of fun.

In case the pictures above didn't clue you in, we took a trip to the Great Wall today. This was the first of our weekly HBA sponsored excursions throughout Beijing and the surrounding area. I actually don't have a schedule of any sort so I'm not sure where we'll be headed next Saturday, but I would assume over the next eight weeks we'll hit the major spots such as Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and Beihai Park.

The Great Wall was phenomenal. For those of you who don't already know, this trip to China is the first time that I've travelled out of the States, and furthermore, my travels around the U.S. have not been very extensive (yet). The Great Wall is definitely the most well-known landmark I've ever been to, in China or otherwise. The section of the Wall that we visited is called the Mutianyu Great Wall. It was first built sometime in the mid 6th century and then rebuilt to its present state during the Ming Dynasty, which ruled from 1368 to 1644 (according to Wikipedia). Aside from the hike to and from the Wall, I enjoyed everything about the trip. There's certainly something strange (and cool) about walking on top of a thousand-year-old wall, which once served the purpose of keeping the Mongols and other invaders out of China.

I would post more pictures (since I took about 100) but the internet connection here isn't too great so it takes about three minutes to upload every picture. However, those of you who are friends with me on Facebook can check out the photo album I just posted, and those of you who aren't friends with me on Facebook are S.O.L. Just kidding. I just made the album visible to everyone, so if you Google my name you can get to my Facebook and hopefully check out all the pictures.

I'm slowly getting used to the workload here at HBA so hopefully I'll be able to write more frequently in the coming weeks. Ideally I'll throw something up here on a daily basis so that I don't have to try to fit a week's worth of stuff into one post.

For right now that's all I got. I hope everyone enjoys the pictures (and the blog in general). Let me know if you guys have any suggestions or if there's anything in particular you'd like me to write about - I'd certainly be glad to oblige.

Just remembered one last thing. I took some video footage at the Wall so I'm going to try to get that up in a separate post.

One week down, eight to go,

Jamey

Lag-tastic Voyage

It was only minutes into my first expedition to one of Beijing's supermarkets that I received this grave news. It's going to be a long summer without candy drink.

Seriously though, it is 3:21 in the afternoon and I've spent the entire day exploring the BLCU campus. I managed to get a cell phone, internet access, and a gym membership all for about $130, which isn't bad by any means.

First impressions of Beijing...

1) It's a one-of-a-kind feeling to look up at a "clear sky" and not be able to see the sun... at all.

2) Tomorrow I sign a pledge saying that I won't speak in any other language besides Mandarin until the end of the program. This means one of two things at this point. Either I'll get really good at communicating through hand gestures, or I'll really have to improve my Chinese in a hurry.

3) I can only imagine the things going on in the local peoples' heads as they watched my friends and I pull out our cameras to take pictures in the supermarket.

4) At certain times today I literally felt like a martian.

That's all for now, jet lag has turned me into a zombie, so much so that I can't really tell if I'm tired or not. I have a feeling I'm running on fumes right now and in about three hours I'll just pass out wherever I am.

fresh to def,

Jamey

2:54 AM - Night Before Departure

Even though it sucked to watch the Philly fans boo the Hawks while they celebrated the big win, I can't even imagine how disappointed I would have been if the series had gone to game seven, considering that I'll be almost completely disconnected from the Western world between tomorrow night and Monday (when I get my internet set up in Beijing).

I still can't believe that I'm leaving tomorrow morning, and it probably won't really hit me until I get to the airport. The whole idea of leaving the country is still so surreal that I'm not even really nervous yet. We'll see how that changes over the course of the day tomorrow.

Hope everyone has a wonderful summer back home, and I'll try to post on this blog as often as I can. I'd love to stay in touch with everyone as much as possible.

J-Club for lyfe,

Jamey

Five(ish) Days and Counting

This is a test.

I set up this blog quite a while ago, and now that I'm in my last stateside week, I guess I better figure out how it all works. Supposedly all my posts will be forwarded to Facebook (through the Notes application if it works out right), but we'll see if that's the case in a few short minutes.

Enjoy.