Wild China

So, this has been the craziest week ever.

On Friday (the 18th), we went to the World Expo. I kind of mentioned it
in my last blog post, but it was so incredible. The vastness and the
obvious amount of money put into the Expo was amazing. Nearly every
country had a pavilion filled with information about business, culture
and technology organized in the most ingenious ways. Wealthier
countries with business interest in China built the larger, more
impressive pavilions. The lines to get into the pavilions seemed to
follow the money because the more impressive the pavilion the longer
the wait. While waiting in line, everyone seemed to be in this
ridiculous competition to push their way to the front. It was hectic
and hot and at times really frustrating. The line for Saudi Arabia was
nine hours! Because we were only in Shanghai for a day, we decided to
skip the longer lines and see as many smaller pavilions as possible. I
was able to see a few bigger pavilions: Iceland, Turkey, Switzerland,
and Morocco. Switzerland was by far the longest wait of the day. We
stood in line for four hours, but it was definitely worth the wait.
There was a chair lift that took you on a ride above the pavilion and
gave a great view of the Expo and Shanghai. We also used Chinese to
make friends with this little old lady who spent the entirety of the
four hours in the Switzerland line trying to push past us in line. She
said she was at the Expo alone, but I think it might have been a ploy
to jump to the front of the line. Iceland was nice, its pavilion
contained a giant room with images projected on the ceiling and the
walls to create the illusion of actually being in Iceland. Argentina
was cool because we got to watch the World Cup on a huge screen while
sitting on a lawn with a huge crowd of mixed nationalities. Everyone
was so excited when N.Korea beat Greece. Somehow, my friend Mary
Catherine figured out you can jump the line at Morocco by saying hello
in Arabic. The guy at the front of the line literally said nothing and
opened the gate with that one word. It was awesome! We really wanted to
see the China pavilion (it is a HUGE pagoda in the middle of the Expo),
but they give away all of the tickets at a random gate in the morning.
If anyone reading my blog is going to the Expo and wants to see the
China pavilion, go to the information desk near the China pavilion and
tell them you are only in Shanghai for one day and you leave for
America the next day. They apparently give tickets to people who depart
the next day. Wish I would've known that little fact!

As we talked with people in the crowd at the Expo, I noticed that these
people came from all over China. In fact, while we were in Shanghai we
saw more tourists than actual Shanghai residents. It seemed like
tourists outnumbered the people who actually live in Shanghai.
Robert,our guide, explained how it is incredibly expensive to buy real
estate in China. It is about 1.5 to 2 million RMB (approx. 200,000 to
300,000 USD) to buy even the smallest apartment in Shanghai. Young
people in Shanghai can only make about 18,000 RMB per year
(approx.2,571 USD), so buying real estate is nearly impossible. It
makes me wonder who can live here and how people make ends meet. Robert
said there is a saying in Chinese about an old Chinese woman and an old
American woman. When the Chinese woman dies, she says she is happy she
finally saved enough money to buy a house. When the old American woman
dies, she says she is happy she got to buy the house. The saying
doesn't make perfect sense in translation, but it is a good way to
illustrate a difference between China and the United States. For the
most part, Chinese real estate is owned by the government. A person can
pay to live on the land, but when they want to move on or they die, the
government repossesses the land. The government then sells it to the
next "owner". Robert explained that a person can technically own the
land, but that person cannot sell the real estate when he moves. I'm
not sure if Chinese people sell back their land to the government or
merely give it back, but either way their is no appreciation and no
built up equity. That is why it becomes difficult to purchase housing.
Life in Shanghai seems very high stress because the cost of living is
so high compared to individual income. People seemed obsessed with
saving money, buying property and staying in the city. When we traveled
to Hangzhou and Suzhou, life seemed a little more relaxed and more
enjoyable even though the cities were a little bit sleepier. People
still have to save money to buy property, but cost of living is much
lower.

Suzhou is a hub for famous Chinese art. Along with the famous gardens,
Suzhou is the center for famous Chinese painting, silk embroidery, and
all other forms Chinese art. People travel from all over China to learn
from the masters in this area and be in the creative center of China.
The gardens in Suzhou were so beautiful. We visited two different
gardens. One was the Master of the Nets garden, a smaller garden on the
interior of the house meant to look like a mountainside lake in rural
China. The use of space was amazing, making a small interior courtyard
feel like a completely different location. We also saw the Humble
Administrator's Garden which was a sprawling labyrinth of flowers,
trees, bridges, pagodas and water features. We got to see paintings by
local artists while visiting the Master of the Nets garden. Chinese
traditional painting is so delicate and beautiful, inspired by Chinese
calligraphy and natural world so integral to life in China. We also got
to see a working silk factory and trace the production of silk from
worm to finished product. Did you know: silk worm poop is used to fill
special inserts that can be put in pillows to lessen back and neck
stress from spending lots of time on the computer? Really. They were in
our pillows in the hotel in Hangzhou. They are hard and tiny and not
gross at all, but just knowing I was sleeping on worm poop was kind of
awkward. I opted for the other pillow.

So all of the hotels where we stayed had Chinese breakfast buffets. A
hot porridge with little bits of meat and veggies to mix in, boiled
eggs, steamed buns, fried rice, a vegetable dish etc... I walked into
the breakfast buffet in Suzhou and they approached me at the front of
the buffet line with a "Western" breakfast plate. A fried egg, bacon,
fake ham (spam?), a club sandwich, coconut cake, a muffin, and Nescafe.
They looked at me like I was crazy when I got up and poured myself some
tea. The sentiment behind the breakfast was nice, but I thought their
conception of an American breakfast was pretty funny.

Hangzhou is the tea capital of China. Supposedly, Dragon Well tea is
the best green tea in all of China. I thought tea was just tea, but
man! this tea is strong! I drank just a little bit before this blog
post because I was dead tired and I am typing about a mile a minute.
Hangzhou is a beautiful city with many shady, tree lined streets and
old architecture. We visited a very old traditional medicine hospital
in the middle of Hangzhou. This place was so cool! When I walked in, I
swear my lungs felt better. Chinese traditional medicine has been
curing people for over 5,000 years. Some people don't believe in its
curative properties, but I think I might give it a try in Beijing. I
have problems with asthma, and I would love to find a way to breath
easier in Beijing. The hospital was a beautiful place, filled with
specimens used to cure anything from bad skin to heart problems.
Hangzhou was beautiful and I really hope to return in the future!

From Hangzhou, we took an overnight train ride to Beijing. Let me tell
you, trying to fit two months of luggage for three girls into one
overnight train compartment was not easy. Somehow we managed to shove
all the luggage into the cracks and corners of the car, and I still
don't know how it happened. I felt like I was on Platform Nine and
Three Quarters because I was taking the train to school. Surprisingly,
I really liked the train ride! It was really relaxing to sleep on the
train, so much better than a bus or a plane. It was sad to see our
guide Robert go, he was so helpful and such a good friend by the end of
our trip. He is a tour guide now, but he told us that he might open a
restaurant business with his friends from back home in the next year.
When I return to China, I can't wait to visit his restaurant!

I feel like I am getting less awkward in Chinese, so that is definitely
a great development. Right now I am staying at the Beijing Institute
for Education. We got here around 7 am. I have managed to pick up a
better Chinese accent and now more people respond to me immediately
when I start to speak Chinese. It's so awesome!! Today I ordered food
at a restaurant for the first time by myself in China. It was great and
spicy and so wonderful because I ordered it myself! Also, whoever
invented the Chinese dictionary for the iPod=genius/my hero. It has
helped me SO much on this trip. Every day here is so novel right now, I
feel like I am in a constant dream. The concept of being on the other
side of the world makes everything seem so unreal, especially with the
constant travel over the past seven days. Now that I am in Beijing, I
will be able to set up a schedule. I feel like it will be easier to
settle into life, Chinese style.

Shout out to my brothers Chad and Ty: they have individually wrapped
hot dogs for snacks here! I saw so many people eat them in line at the
World Expo, so you guys would fit right in here in China. I thought the
solo hot dogs were funny, so I bought a couple to take home for you
guys.(See picture above)

Hopefully my next posts will be a little bit shorter than this one now
that I have consistent wireless. Feel free to post comments, because
all comments are all emailed to me, It's like getting mail from back
home,and it's so nice to hear from you all! Welcome to Beijing!

Best, Kelsey