Tuesday, 24 November 2009
Happy Thanksgiving!
Hi friends! I promised a blog about my trip to Nanjing, and here it is!
Well, after a very early morning, Diane and I headed out to the train station. We had to take a taxi (at 6 A.M.) to the subway station, and then we attempted to figure out which train station our train was leaving from at 8. Here were our choices: Shanghai Railway Station S. or Shanghai South Railway Station S.--just a tad confusing!
Needless-to-say, we ended up at the wrong station. By the way, our tickets didn't actually say which train station our train was leaving from that morning . . . So, we show up, asked a few people, figured out we went to the wrong station, had a random worker take us to the metro station to catch the subway BACK nine stops with only twenty minutes until our train left. We got to the "real" station, RAN through the crazy lines, and up the platform, had no clue which platform our train was leaving from, were harassed by crazy guys claiming to help us, and realized we had missed our train by minutes!!!! SOOOOOO frustrating!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So, we went to go figure out how to exchange our tickets--that was another adventure. We went to the ticketing office (after searching for awhile), stood in the WRONG line, then went to another line, exchanged our tickets, waited for 2 hours in a huge room where there were NO seats and I was the only white person so everyone was staring at me . . . yeah, it was quite the morning.
So! We finally got on our train, after literally, being herded. I was shoved, pulled, and pushed by the crowd of 200 people; I felt like I was being swept away by the mass of people all trying to shove onto the train. Quite the experience, but we finally made in to Nanjing. We ate at McDonald's (so good), had to get a hotel employee to hail us a cab (no one would pick us up?), and made it to our hotel. The best thing about our hotel was the bathtub!!! I've missed taking baths. :)
Anyway, our first stop was the Nanjing Massacre Museum, where we meet up with the rest of our group. What an incredible museum; I was very impressed with the structure and layout. The museum honors those murdered by the Japanese in the "Rape of Nanjing" that occurred for 6 weeks in 1937 (?). It was really sad, but also showed the spirit of forgiveness. I am really glad I was able to visit this museum.
After the museum, we went back to the hotel and decided to head out to the street for dinner. We found this main street that had a billion people and tons of vendors selling all sorts of delectable treats. WOW. It was crazy insane! Everything from squid, shark, ostrich, deer, crab, shrimp, oysters, all sorts of bugs, crickets, and creepy crawlers, not to mention the tarantula--that baby was 10 bucks!!! EWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so random--I tried the shark meat, and the deer, but both were gross. Actually, I really didn't eat much (yes, I'm picky) except for cotton candy and some strange ice cream/yogurt. We meandered around the streets for awhile, looked in some shops, and then fell into bed.
Here's the interesting thing about Chinese hotels--Chinese people are little, so their idea of a double bed is pretty much a single bed. We had four people in our room--me, Diane, Jen, and Jen's mom. Diane and I knew there was absolutely no way we were both going to fit on the bed, so we pulled the sofa into the space between the beds and slept with our feet on the couch and our heads near the side of the bed. It was uncomfortable, but I was so tired, it didn't matter. I feel asleep (after my lovely relaxing bath!) listening to the movie Moulan, in Chinese. :)
The next day we were up early (of course) and went to see Confucius's temple. It was in a popular part of Nanjing, with a ton to see (you know, typical Chinese stuff--a bridge, a lake, temples, pagodas--you get the picture) but we decided to pay the money and look inside Confucius's temple--Confucius says, "Kinda boring!" There were cool gongs and people played these cool bells, but other than that, been there, done that. We found a little shopping street after that (surprise, surprise) and had fun "looking." We had already bought a few Chinese paintings at our hotel, so that was one thing we didn't have to buy!
After a random lunch (not great, in my opinion) a few of us headed to a famous tower and climbed a million stairs--it was a great view! We then went to a lake and rented a little boat (remember how I just LOVE boats!?) and yes, I did have a moment of freaking out--especially when my crew started rocking the boat! I was the only one with the life jacket!:) It was a nice hour on the lake, then back to the hotel to pack up and head out to the train station for our ride back to Shanghai. Diane and I scarfed down a bucket of KFC on the ride back, and it was nice to just sit and listen to music. Anyway, we got in late, had to take the subway, then a taxi--super tiring, but a nice trip! I'm glad we were able to see Nanjing!
Well, I think this a pretty long post, but I want to say, "Happy Thanksgiving" to everyone! I will be eating 6 thanksgiving meals (school, church, small group, homeroom, KG leaders, friends) so yes, yummy food. I am thankful to have such wonderful friends, a loving family, and a great country. Being here has definitely been an experience, that's for sure!
Love to all,
Susannah
Well, after a very early morning, Diane and I headed out to the train station. We had to take a taxi (at 6 A.M.) to the subway station, and then we attempted to figure out which train station our train was leaving from at 8. Here were our choices: Shanghai Railway Station S. or Shanghai South Railway Station S.--just a tad confusing!
Needless-to-say, we ended up at the wrong station. By the way, our tickets didn't actually say which train station our train was leaving from that morning . . . So, we show up, asked a few people, figured out we went to the wrong station, had a random worker take us to the metro station to catch the subway BACK nine stops with only twenty minutes until our train left. We got to the "real" station, RAN through the crazy lines, and up the platform, had no clue which platform our train was leaving from, were harassed by crazy guys claiming to help us, and realized we had missed our train by minutes!!!! SOOOOOO frustrating!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So, we went to go figure out how to exchange our tickets--that was another adventure. We went to the ticketing office (after searching for awhile), stood in the WRONG line, then went to another line, exchanged our tickets, waited for 2 hours in a huge room where there were NO seats and I was the only white person so everyone was staring at me . . . yeah, it was quite the morning.
So! We finally got on our train, after literally, being herded. I was shoved, pulled, and pushed by the crowd of 200 people; I felt like I was being swept away by the mass of people all trying to shove onto the train. Quite the experience, but we finally made in to Nanjing. We ate at McDonald's (so good), had to get a hotel employee to hail us a cab (no one would pick us up?), and made it to our hotel. The best thing about our hotel was the bathtub!!! I've missed taking baths. :)
Anyway, our first stop was the Nanjing Massacre Museum, where we meet up with the rest of our group. What an incredible museum; I was very impressed with the structure and layout. The museum honors those murdered by the Japanese in the "Rape of Nanjing" that occurred for 6 weeks in 1937 (?). It was really sad, but also showed the spirit of forgiveness. I am really glad I was able to visit this museum.
After the museum, we went back to the hotel and decided to head out to the street for dinner. We found this main street that had a billion people and tons of vendors selling all sorts of delectable treats. WOW. It was crazy insane! Everything from squid, shark, ostrich, deer, crab, shrimp, oysters, all sorts of bugs, crickets, and creepy crawlers, not to mention the tarantula--that baby was 10 bucks!!! EWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so random--I tried the shark meat, and the deer, but both were gross. Actually, I really didn't eat much (yes, I'm picky) except for cotton candy and some strange ice cream/yogurt. We meandered around the streets for awhile, looked in some shops, and then fell into bed.
Here's the interesting thing about Chinese hotels--Chinese people are little, so their idea of a double bed is pretty much a single bed. We had four people in our room--me, Diane, Jen, and Jen's mom. Diane and I knew there was absolutely no way we were both going to fit on the bed, so we pulled the sofa into the space between the beds and slept with our feet on the couch and our heads near the side of the bed. It was uncomfortable, but I was so tired, it didn't matter. I feel asleep (after my lovely relaxing bath!) listening to the movie Moulan, in Chinese. :)
The next day we were up early (of course) and went to see Confucius's temple. It was in a popular part of Nanjing, with a ton to see (you know, typical Chinese stuff--a bridge, a lake, temples, pagodas--you get the picture) but we decided to pay the money and look inside Confucius's temple--Confucius says, "Kinda boring!" There were cool gongs and people played these cool bells, but other than that, been there, done that. We found a little shopping street after that (surprise, surprise) and had fun "looking." We had already bought a few Chinese paintings at our hotel, so that was one thing we didn't have to buy!
After a random lunch (not great, in my opinion) a few of us headed to a famous tower and climbed a million stairs--it was a great view! We then went to a lake and rented a little boat (remember how I just LOVE boats!?) and yes, I did have a moment of freaking out--especially when my crew started rocking the boat! I was the only one with the life jacket!:) It was a nice hour on the lake, then back to the hotel to pack up and head out to the train station for our ride back to Shanghai. Diane and I scarfed down a bucket of KFC on the ride back, and it was nice to just sit and listen to music. Anyway, we got in late, had to take the subway, then a taxi--super tiring, but a nice trip! I'm glad we were able to see Nanjing!
Well, I think this a pretty long post, but I want to say, "Happy Thanksgiving" to everyone! I will be eating 6 thanksgiving meals (school, church, small group, homeroom, KG leaders, friends) so yes, yummy food. I am thankful to have such wonderful friends, a loving family, and a great country. Being here has definitely been an experience, that's for sure!
Love to all,
Susannah
Saturday, 14 November 2009
THREE MONTHS!!!!
I am a bad blogger--forgive me. I am definitely not on vacation, so yes, real life takes over! Well, I guess you could say "The honeymoon phase is over." Not that I don't like my life here, it's just that I miss home. On my bad days, I want to hop on the next plane . . . on my good days, I barely have time to even miss anyone. Three months, people. It's gone by quickly!
SO! Things are going well--extra busy. It's grade card time (all teachers know what that means) and I'm scrambling(like always) to get all my grades and comments in on time. So, things are stressful, yet not without fun. I went to the fake market today and shopped. :) There were police everywhere shutting down the shops and stalls that sell fake products and who weren't able to pay the heavy fine. It was quite interesting. Random people would come up to me and whisper, "Lady, you want Prada bag?" :) That's China for you!
Anyway, I thought I would recount a very scary event that happened a few weeks ago. I attempted to travel home from Carrefour by myself. Yes, I know it sounds easy peasy, but I haven't been anywhere by myself for three months! (I don't speak Chinese, ok?!) Well, here's what happened . . . and no, it's not the first time I thought I would die here in China. Probably not the last either!
So I hop into a taxi after I show the guy where I want to go and he reassures me (twice) that he does in fact know where I want to go. I anxiously peer out the window and try to remember how to get home. I felt a little like Dorothy . . . anywho, I start getting nervous when I don't really recognize anything--you can't blame me, I've never driven here, so I don't actually pay attention to directions. Well, the taxi guy turns onto the expressway, and I KNOW that is definitely NOT the way we take to get home--and the meter is getting higher and higher and I am trying to remain calm and pray and wait until the next exit to see if maybe he knows a shortcut and I don't know cause I haven't lived here long and . . . yes, my anxious thoughts were going a mile a minute!
So, the guy gets off the highway, turns around, slows down (yes, there were creepy lingering people on the side of the street) and then proceeds to get back on the highway and goes around a construction blockade. I seriously am almost hyperventilating at this point, until I see the German Center, and that little bit of familiarity allows me to breathe. The meter is insanely crazy at this point, and the poor guy still doesn't know exactly where to go, and everything looks alike, so I don't know where to tell him. Anyway, to make a long story very long, we figure it out--lots of gestures, head nodding, and "uh-huhs" and I make it back to my apartment--ruffled but no worse for wear. I survived! No, really, it was super duper scary, scenes of scary movies flashed in my head, but no worries, SOMEONE was watching out for me (Thanks, G) and I live to tell the story.
Another day, another adventure. Hmmmm... which story to tell next? I need to update and tell you all about Nanjing, but I'm tired and I still have essays to grade. However, exciting development--I am going to Israel in February!!!! I am very excited! I'll still be coming home for two weeks, though--can't wait to see people and to EAT. Not kidding, my roommate and I sit around and talk about all the food we miss at home . . . seriously, Olive Garden needs to come here!
Well, thanks for reading!!!
Susannah
SO! Things are going well--extra busy. It's grade card time (all teachers know what that means) and I'm scrambling(like always) to get all my grades and comments in on time. So, things are stressful, yet not without fun. I went to the fake market today and shopped. :) There were police everywhere shutting down the shops and stalls that sell fake products and who weren't able to pay the heavy fine. It was quite interesting. Random people would come up to me and whisper, "Lady, you want Prada bag?" :) That's China for you!
Anyway, I thought I would recount a very scary event that happened a few weeks ago. I attempted to travel home from Carrefour by myself. Yes, I know it sounds easy peasy, but I haven't been anywhere by myself for three months! (I don't speak Chinese, ok?!) Well, here's what happened . . . and no, it's not the first time I thought I would die here in China. Probably not the last either!
So I hop into a taxi after I show the guy where I want to go and he reassures me (twice) that he does in fact know where I want to go. I anxiously peer out the window and try to remember how to get home. I felt a little like Dorothy . . . anywho, I start getting nervous when I don't really recognize anything--you can't blame me, I've never driven here, so I don't actually pay attention to directions. Well, the taxi guy turns onto the expressway, and I KNOW that is definitely NOT the way we take to get home--and the meter is getting higher and higher and I am trying to remain calm and pray and wait until the next exit to see if maybe he knows a shortcut and I don't know cause I haven't lived here long and . . . yes, my anxious thoughts were going a mile a minute!
So, the guy gets off the highway, turns around, slows down (yes, there were creepy lingering people on the side of the street) and then proceeds to get back on the highway and goes around a construction blockade. I seriously am almost hyperventilating at this point, until I see the German Center, and that little bit of familiarity allows me to breathe. The meter is insanely crazy at this point, and the poor guy still doesn't know exactly where to go, and everything looks alike, so I don't know where to tell him. Anyway, to make a long story very long, we figure it out--lots of gestures, head nodding, and "uh-huhs" and I make it back to my apartment--ruffled but no worse for wear. I survived! No, really, it was super duper scary, scenes of scary movies flashed in my head, but no worries, SOMEONE was watching out for me (Thanks, G) and I live to tell the story.
Another day, another adventure. Hmmmm... which story to tell next? I need to update and tell you all about Nanjing, but I'm tired and I still have essays to grade. However, exciting development--I am going to Israel in February!!!! I am very excited! I'll still be coming home for two weeks, though--can't wait to see people and to EAT. Not kidding, my roommate and I sit around and talk about all the food we miss at home . . . seriously, Olive Garden needs to come here!
Well, thanks for reading!!!
Susannah
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