Shanghai, Xi'an and a Lot of in Between!

So it has been far too long since I made time to post on my blog, but now it's time to catch up. Currently the system isn't allowing me to post pictures or video clips, so I'll have to update it again later, but as for how life in China has been - well, it keeps getting better and better.

Two weekends ago I had the chance to go to Shanghai with my classmates for a couple of days. It was great fun, we left Hangzhou Saturday morning and took the hour and a half fast train ride to Shanghai. Once there we went to a traditional Chinese music store, and had a look around before being set free to explore the city. Shanghai is absolutely amazing. I went around the city with a few friends, and had an awesome time. We went to the Oriental Pearl, as well as Shanghai's two massive skyscrapers (photos coming soon!). I thought Hangzhou was big, but everywhere you look in Shanghai you see a skyscraper - it was awesome. Then Sunday morning I was able to attend the branch in Shanghai for Church. Previously I have met every Sunday with 6 to 8 other individuals to have our sacrament service and church meeting, but I actually got to go to church in Shanghai. There were around a hundred or more people in the Shanghai Branch, and there is also another branch - the Pudong Branch that met after us. The Branch is very diverse with members from the U.S., South America, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan, and more - it was a great Sunday. Some of the meetings were in English and some in Chinese. Afterward I spent the afternoon with some friends that I made at Church - it was an awesome day. After the afternoon with my new church friends I met up with my classmates and we all caught the train back to Hangzhou in time to start class bright and early Monday morning!

The week wasn't too eventful after that, full of homework and studying - but we got Friday off, as we were given a four day break to travel. A four day break doesn't sound like much, but it's the biggest break I've had this summer - which made it all the better.

Everyone in the program made plans to travel different places, and I decided to go to Xi'an. Originally a friend of mine in the program was planning on going with me, but he changed his mind at the last minute, so I went solo. Xi'an is over a thousand miles away from Hangzhou, so I took a two and a half hour plane ride to get there, but it was well worth the journey. I wrote previously about how I had met a friend through Church that operates an Orphanage here in China - well, that orphanage is in Xi'an and was the main reason I wanted to go to there. I stayed with my friend Amanda, at her orphanage with a few other volunteers who are here to help her for the summer. All of the kids that she has at her orphanage are all two years and younger, with quite a few infants - so it was full on all the time - but absolutely amazing! There was never a shortage of babies needing to be held.

Shanghai, Xi

The Weekend in Suzhou and Nanjing

I finally have a chance to take a few minutes and update you all on my travels. Over this past weekend we had the opportunity to travel to the Ancient city of Suzhou, and the former Chinese capital - Nanjing. It was a busy weekend filled with a lot, but it was an awesome experience. We were able to visit most of the "big" places to visit in both cities. We also ended up spending a lot of time on the bus. Four hours to Suzhou, two hours from Suzhou to Nanjing, and then another four hours from Nanjing back to Hangzhou. A lot of bus time, but it was well worth it.

The first place that we stopped in Suzhou was the Hangshang Buddhist Temple. (The posted picture is the central building in the complex, and the statue is just inside the ground level of the pictured building). The temple, and the whole complex was beautiful, and gave a taste of old Chinese architecture and society. We also had the chance to visit "The Humble Administrators Garden", and then go on a boat ride through the city via the canal.

When we all ate dinner together I succumbed to the challenge of being the one to eat the chicken's feet out of the chicken's feet soup. I had done so once before when I was in Australia, so it wasn't too difficult to try it again. I didn't think it was too bad when I was in Australia, and I rather liked the one I had here - I think it's the "look" that scares people away. I thought I'd include a little video for you all of the event :)!

After dinner we spent the evening at the night market in Suzhou - exploring the shops, and playing a few Chinese arcade games! I am with a great group of fellow students in this program, and it's almost ridiculous how much a lot of us have in common with each other, hence several of us ended up spending a lot of time in the bookstore, we couldn't resist the easy access to all of the Chinese classics. That statement shows my nerdy side coming out, but it was still a definite highlight of the trip!

The next day we got up early and headed to Nanjing to see the sights there. We went to a couple different tombs of past emperors that were in an absolutely amazing nature preserve. The trees, grass, and all of the foliage in China is incredible. It might for quite the scenic experience as you can get a perspective of from the picture.

From there we headed to the Art and history museum in Nanjing which houses dozens of amazing artifacts. They have a jade exhibit without Jade jewelry from several thousand years ago to the present, several calligraphy scrolls, traditional silk robes, incredible carvings, and even a China display - which I guess here in China would simply be called a "dish" display! I decided to include a picture of one of the carvings as well, because it was absolutely fascinating. It was hand carved around 500 A.D., and the detail in the carving is incomparable to anything I have ever seen before - definitely amazing!

We made a brief stop at another garden, and then made a final stop at what, for me, was the highlight of the weekend - 夫子庙 (Fuzi Miao) Which, in English, is the Confucius Temple. It was incredible. Confucius is obviously an individual that has had a huge impact on the world, and a definite impact on China. To view his actual temple and school building was incredible. There was a huge statue of him, as well as eight of his most famous students. The detail that within and without the temple was amazing, and it was an experience that I won't soon forget. Unfortunately I'll have to forego posting any pictures of it at the current time. My camera battery died before we got to the Confucius Temple. One of my friends took tons of pictures for me though - I just haven't had the opportunity to download them yet. So there will be more on that in my next post!

From 夫子庙 we headed to the hotel in Nanjing for the night. It was a very nice hotel, but it was somewhat discomforting to receive the 11:00pm phone call asking if I wanted a "massage". There was a culture shock moment for me :)! Other than that the weekend trip was awesome. We got up Sunday morning, made the trip back here to Hangzhou, and then actually had the rest of the day to use Sunday as it should be - a day of rest!

Starting Sunday night the rain started coming down, and it's now Tuesday night at about 10:30pm, and the rain hasn't stopped...period. It is currently the rainy season here in Hangzhou, and, well, so far it is living up to what you might expect of a rainy season! I had to walk over to pick up my clothes from the launderer this afternoon (about a fifteen minute walk away), and I was beginning to wonder when flood conditions come into play - but apparently this is just normal. There's a few inches of running water along many of the streets and paths, but everything still continues as normal. Just wear your flip-flops or rain boots, and your okay! I do have to say, though, that I did break down an buy the first umbrella that I have ever owned in my life, and I think it'll be put to use!

One interesting cultural note to point out is the umbrellas. As you'd obviously expect, pretty much everyone is carrying one out in the rain right now - but on the sunny days (at least I think there's a sun out there somewhere through the smog :)) all the women still carry their umbrellas. It's a little bit different than America, where everyone is trying to get a tan and get darker. Here all of the women shade themselves from the sun in order to maintain a lighter complexion - a little bit like the American women of the mid 1800s. - Just an interesting little side note.

I think that is all for now. I best head to bed here shortly so that I can get up early and prepare for my test tomorrow. A few more days of class this week, and this coming weekend I'll actually have an opportunity to explore Hangzhou a little bit. I live right here in the middle of the city, and haven't yet had the opportunity of seeing much of it...

Till next time -

Best,

Brody

Settling into Life in Hangzhou

So I'm not certain exactly how my posts are ending up, but let me know - someone :). Apparently blogger is blocked here in China, but I have been able to access the area where I write my posts, I just can't view them. So hopefully they are turning out all right.
I think I'm finally getting settled into life here in Hangzhou. I've finally got my schedule figured out, and I'm no longer feeling so lost in the city. The course schedule is pretty intense - classes from 9AM to 9PM Monday to Friday with a couple breaks in between for lunch and dinner, but at least its not as crazy as my 8AM-midnight schedule back in Iowa:). I have a strong feeling (based on my first weeks exprience) that most of my time is going to be spent studying or in class, but the nice thing part is that no matter where I go it's an opportunity to learn and practice the language.

As I said above I am beginning to feel a little bit more comfortable making my way around the city, and the attached photo is a view from my walk back from the store. It was about the most open spot that I could find in order to actually take a picture of something more than the building across the street! Hangzhou truly is a beautiful city. It's hard to get any grasp of its beauty through the pictures, but nearly every square inch of ground in the area I am staying is groomed to perfection, and we're not even in the "upper class" part of town. I have been overwhelmingly surprised with both the beauty, and development here in Hangzhou. As I've learned, Hangzhou is one of the most wealthy cities in China, and it definitely shows - the downtown Bentley, Mercedes, and Rolls-Royce dealerships give somewhat of an inclination of what I'm talking about! Cutting a long story short - Hangzhou is beautiful!

Perhaps the biggest scenic draw in Hangzhou is West Lake (西湖). It's in the middle of the city, and gardened immaculately - it's amazing. This past Saturday we (my classmates and I) had the opportunity to go to a performance there called "Impressions of West Lake" (印象西湖). It was a great performance - they have a stage set up just underneath the water and it looked like the performers were walking on water. It was at nighttime and they had an amazing light display at the same time. I took several photos and a couple of movie clips, some of which I've attached - hopefully they work, let me know if they don't!

This first one is from one of the scenes that was performed "out" of the water - however the little house that they are all in was actually a boat as well - floating and moving around out on the lake. The second video clip shows the two main characters under the water. In the middle of the pay they raised up the huge misting triangular structure that you see - it was quite the show!

On Sunday, I was able to make my way to church here in Hangzhou for the first time. The city of Hangzhou is actually in the Shanghai Branch - so that is where the church building is, but since it is so far to Shanghai, there are a group of church members that meet in one of their homes every Sunday. There were nine of us (plus three kids), which made for a quaint get together, but it was great. I managed to learn the entire congregations names in a day :). There is quite the group of people - a few couples who are here for work, and one lady who is here in Hangzhou for a couple of weeks. She runs an orphanag in Xi'an, and is here for a couple of weeks for the surgery of a new baby she's picking up. She is quite the amazing individual. She has a blog and website set up if anyway wanted to look more into it, I found her work and efforts to be a modern day working of miracles. her blog is chinesestarfish.blogspot.com and her website is www.chinesestarfish.org. During one of my breaks from school I may try and take a trip out to visit her.
As for the coming days - I've got a lot of class time and study ahead of me, but I've got a lot to learn. We actually get class off on Friday as well - since we'll be traveling as a group this coming weekend to Nanjing and Suzhou. It'll be a great opportunity to get out and see some more of China. I think I've spent to much time with my head in books studying. Until next time - - -

Best,

Brody

On Top of the World!

I was asked several times what direction my flight would take to China - east or west... Well, the answer to that question was neither, we went right up and over the top! Here's a nice little picture of Siberia - for any who desire to visit their. Personally, I found it satisfactory to simply see it from my window seat in the airplaine!

I landed safely Monday afternoon in China, and then took about a three hour bus ride to Hangzhou from there. As soon as we stepped off the bus we were surrounded by Taxi drivers grabbing at our luggage and wanting to drive us to our destination. All I have to say is the roads in China are quite a trip! I have no idea how the drivers don't hit each other, there's never more than a few inches between vehicles, bikes, and pedestrians. It's definitely an experience!

I'm staying in a hotel here in Hangzhou, and it is quite nice. We have a western style toilet instead of one of the "squatters", something to be greatful for I guess... one of the comforts of home:). I haven't had much of a chance to explore the city yet, as classes started right away and are very intense to say the least. From what I have seen, though, it's a busy place here, and there are people everywhere. I don't think there is such a thing as only a triple or four story building anywhere insight. The other picture shows the scenice view from the window in my hotel room. That's pretty much the sights of the city all around here. If it's not a residential building, it's a large business district. It's amazing though. I'm loving it so far, I can't wait until I have more of an opportunity to explore the city. That'll come on the weekend though.

The Beginnings of My Travels...

The past week has certainly been a busy one. I graduated on the 18th, packed up the 19th, and drove to Indiana with my U-haul on the 20th. It's now the 21st, and I am finally getting to slow down a little bit. I am excited for all of the new adventures that I am embarking on, but do have to admit that it is hard to leave behind all of my great friends in Iowa - you all just need to move with me!!! What's wrong with a mass exodus to China :) ??? Speaking of, I fly out this coming Sunday, and then the crazy travels begin. I think I am finally almost ready. The only thing left to do is unload my U-haul into a storage unit, and breathe for a few days before flying to the other side of the world. We'll find out how ready I am for it when I actually get to Hangzhou!