Rach's Adventures in China

On Friday, Liz and I spent 2.5 hours in the bank trying to get some currency changed into yuan. The other day when I'd gone to change some dollars, the manager gave me a VIP ticket and I was able to jump the queue - no such luck this time. Although I have to admit, I felt kinda bad the other day when there was about 50 Chinese people in front of me and I'd obviously been given preferential treatment for being foreign. We started talking to a guy in the bank who told us that he'd just graduated from Beijing Normal University (where we're studying). He explained that the reason the bank is so ridiculously busy every day is because of the stock market - nearly everyone in there was trying to buy stock. It was really interesting. We started talking about the Olympics and I asked him how he thought the city would cope with the massive flux of people next year. I'm finding it really hard to see how Beijing will cope. He says that the government is offering free English classes to pretty much everyone. Judging from my experience thus far, not many people are taking them up on the offer!! Every time we get a taxi, we have to have the address written in Chinese characters or have a map with us. Many Chinese people don't know pinyin (the words written out in Latin characters instead of symbols) and despite our best efforts, they don't always understand us if we say words in Chinese. The taxi drivers have been given tapes to help them learn English phrases for when they have foreigners on board, but instead of learning the words, they just play the tape when you get in. We're all getting the hang of China now - obviously we have a massive advantage since we've spent 2 weeks learning Chinese every day! I'm really interested to see what happens over the next year in preparation for the Olympics. It would be amazing to come back next summer and be able to make a comparison.

Anyway, after the bank, we decided to go for a massage. There's a parlour in the basement of our hotel and we got a 1-hour full body massage for only 48Y - less than 3 pounds! Over here, most of the masseurs are blind - which can make for some humourous situations. My massage was great and left me feeling very relaxed. We met up with some of the girls who'd gone shopping for the afternoon and had dinner together at a swish restaurant in the hotel. Being less squeamish than most of the girls I've met, I've tried to order something a bit different each time I have Chinese food. Last weekend I tried fish cheek for the first time - it was sooo nice. I think I put a few people off their food though when I was dissecting the fishhead though.. On Friday night, I ordered braised bullfrog with bamboo shoots. Everyone looked at me with disdain but I wouldn't be dissuaded! I have to admit - when the food came, the frog looked absolutely disgusting. Basically, it was just chunks of frog - bones and all - which had been braised in a sauce. It wasn't like frogs' legs or anything - this was just hunks of carcus. After some careful dissection, I quickly realised that it was delicious, albeit very challenging to eat. Only one other girl at the table would try it - most of them looked at it with disgust and quickly rotated the turntable in the middle whenever the frog landed in front of them. I can understand where they're coming from - maybe a few months ago I would have been the same - but since I arrived in China I've been really trying to have an open mind about everything to do with their culture.

Some of the girls went shopping again after the meal but I wasn't really feeling up to that so I had a nice chilled evening in chatting with Becky (who will be happy that I finally mentioned her in my blog) and then messing about on the Internet. Loads of people went out clubbing to 'Club Banana' but that definitely wasn't on my agenda. Sounds like I missed a good night but there'll be plenty more!

On Saturday morning, we left at 9:30 am to drive out to the countryside to stay at a farm. I still have no idea where we went - they didn't actually tell us where we were going. It was about 1.5 hours outside of Beijing though. The village was very rural and basic but they had obviously turned it into an attraction - most of the homes were also guesthomes and they were used to having tourists stay with them. There were 10 to a house and our lady welcomed us with open arms into her home. She had two basic rooms for us - one with a 6 person bed and one with a 4 person bed. When I say bed - it was basically just a hard surface with a mat thrown over it. It was comfortable enough once you got used to it - I actually had a great night's sleep!! She prepared a massive feast of a lunch for us which we scarfed down - it was really nice to eat some proper Chinese food in someone's home instead of at a restaurant. She had two children, including a 6 month old baby, who we played with. One of her friends came over to the house and started talking to us - she spoke no English and obviously our Chinese isn't great so we were pretty limited. It's really interesting trying to talk to people here. We know enough to be able to pick out certain words and so after a bit of group guesswork we can usually get an idea of what they're saying and banter back and forth. She invited us to come to her house, where a group of the boys were staying. We hung out with them for a bit and then 3 o'clock came up and it was time for our hike! We climbed a beautiful mountain in this town - I have no idea what it was called but it was obviously an attraction. It took us about 2 hours to climb to the top but it was worth every minute - the view was amazing. It was great to get a bit of exercise too. Obviously it wasn't a race but I was still chuffed to be the 2nd girl to reach the top!

On the way down, Becky and I climbed up another set of steps to a little pagoda which housed a bell. The view wasn't as amazing as from the very top of the mountain but it was still nice. I had a bit of a 'I'm the King of the world!' moment while leaning over the bar and my anti-bacterial gel tumbled down the side of the mountain - I was gutted. I won't go into detail about the state of the bathroom we had to use at the farm but it's not pretty and anti-bac is a MUST. I haven't seen it sold anywhere here so Liz and I are going to have to start rationing since it'll probably get worse when we're trekking through rural southern China in a week's time.

Our host cooked us another beautiful meal - we were all starving after the hike. At 8 pm, we wandered down to the playground area of the village where they locals had set up a bonfire in our honour. A sound system was in place and and some of the local women demonstrated some traditional dances and singing (it's more like rapping, actually). Then it turned into a big party and we drank a few beers and danced the night away...well...we danced until 10 and then they told us it was over. The locals were so friendly to us and even showed us how to do their dances. A lot of the girls got whisked away to do some ballroom dancing around the campfire! At the end, a few of us went back to the boys' house and sat outside playing a few games but we got booted out at 11 so it was time to head back to ours to go to bed.

This morning we got up at 8, had breakfast - which consisted of steamed buns, hardboiled eggs, rice soup, won tons, and a few vegetable dishes - then jumped on the coach to come back to Beijing. It was nice to spend a night somewhere like that but I'm glad it was only one night. The facilities at our house were truly basic - we didn't even have a shower, and as I mentioned, the toilet was literally just a hole in the ground in a little shack outside our house - the door didn't even shut.

It's nice to be back in Beijing - it's really started to feel like home here now!!! It's cold here today (only 22 degrees or so) and raining so I think this afternoon will be a bit lazy and then a bunch of us are going out for dinner and drinks at a hutong somewhere this evening. Tomorrow is our last Chinese class - we have class all morning and then for part of the afternoon too! On Tuesday we have our exam in the morning and then graduation ceremony in the afternoon. In the evening we have a social with the Chinese students which should be really fun. On Wednesday people will start leaving!!! I can't believe how quickly this trip has gone - I still feel like I only just got here. Liz and I have booked our train tickets - we leave for Shanghai on the 30th on the overnight train. We're meeting up with some other people from the group in Shanghai which should be good. The plan is to stay there for 3 nights and then started trekking down through southern China through some rural villages and get a taste of 'real' China before we get to Hong Kong.