We were a little late to the 8 am reservation to Dunkin' Donuts, but made it to the train station with plenty of time to spare. Our train ride was a bit shorter than the first outward leg and while it is amazing to seen the Chinese scenery zip by - large apartment building rising in what seems like the middle of nowhere - the only interesting tidbits was that Ryan's spades losing streak came to a halt. We had played quite a few games and everyone had at least two notches in the win column except for Ryan, he had even successfully halted Dad Stiens winning streak on the ride out to Xi'an. Well the two games that were played on the way back weren't even close!
We had taken a trip on the Xi'an subway and once we got back into Beijing we were brought back to reality. They have a joke about Beijing public transportation. It is said that once you get on you are turned into a picture as you are squashed flat. Our ride from the train station to the hotel epitomized that sentiment. Upon arriving to the hotel our day got even more interesting.
While Julie and Ryan have been here for over seven months it's still a learning process, especially with regard to being patient when communicating. Our greeting upon entering the hotel was news that the room type we had reserved wasn't available and we'd have to take two rooms. It was further explained that the second room would cost X. Upon getting this news Ryan's rip-off sensor went off and he began to question why we were having to pay for the second room when it was the hotel's fault that we needed two rooms. About this same time a European gentleman came in and shouted, "where is my rabbit!" (No, I'm not kidding.) This proceeded for a few minutes with the European man insulting anyone, everyone and everything associated with the hotel.
Witnessing this mans display was enough to changes Ryan's state-of-mind regarding the situation with the rooms. Cooler heads usually prevail and in that vein, we proceeded to discuss. It turns out that we had used a different website that has a different policy and doesn't charge the card but just holds the room. The hotel was giving us two rooms for the price of the room we had booked but the language barrier had made the details a little fuzzy. We never did find out the details with the rabbit but after our first encounter with the European man we weren't really pushing for a chance to chat him up. We grabbed dinner and did one last souvenir run before calling it a night.
On Saturday morning we had enough time for one quick final visit. We elected to visit the National Museum of China. This was much better than anticipated. Unfortunately we only had enough time to breeze through one exhibit - Ancient China. It did cover a little over 3,000 years and would be well worth another visit. Our hour was quickly up and headed out in the masses through the thronges of visitors and were back on the subway toward the hotel to pick-up our luggage and head to the airport. We managed all this without a hitch and had Mom and Dad Stiens safely delivered to the airport with time to spare. Their flight (DL 188) took off just before 5pm local time and they should be landing in Detroit just about 5pm (either Eastern or Central time, who can keep up with all these different times).
Pictures are coming soon.
-Ryan
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Good Morning from Xian
It's pushing 6 am here in Xian and some of us have already been up for an hour. Other than my keyboard there isn't a sound to be heard. Except for our neighbors door that just went bang! This is our second morning in Xian and while it is a city of 8.4 million people I haven't found a whole lot to do at 6 am other than dodge traffic on the street. In Shanghai Dad and I were amazed the Starbucks didn't open until 7:30 and then we got to Xian and found that Dunkin' Donuts doesn't open until 8. We have a reservation at DD at 8 this morning before we jump on the subway to the train station to catch our ride back to Beijing.
Yesterday was our one full day in Xian and we had our driver from the night before, Peter, scheduled to pick us up at 9 am. We hopped in the car and got a good taste of Chinese holiday traffic. Many people, including Julie and I, are off of work Thursday and Friday for Tomb Sweeping Day. On most holidays the government eliminates the tolls for using the highways and the cars emerge. Peter put forth a valiant effort and got us to the warriors using every type of road and some paths that could be confused with a walking trail.
The warriors exhibit was well worth the drive. The craftsmanship and complexity of the objects that were created over 2000 years ago is amazing to witness. If being 2000 years old wouldn't have been bad enough having to survive angry rebels was just too much for many of the warriors, animals and chariots. The angry rebels who overthrew the Qin dynasty about a year after Emperor Qin Shi Huang's sudden death while inspecting the mausoleum, that is now the warriors site, had a special love of knocking off the heads of the Terra-cota satutes. Unfortunately this led to some confusion with our group. Let me add a pertinent details: each statute is said to be based on an actual solider. Given that each statue is based on an actual soldier Julie thought was very unfortunate how so many of the solider had no heads. : )
A few fun notes on Emperor Qin Shi Huang. He became Emperor at the age of 13. One of the first things he did was to start building his mausoleum, seems a little weird to me but what I do I know I've never been emperor. He ruled for 37 years before his untimely death while inspecting the mausoleum. So if you were paying attention the warriors site (aka Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum) was under construction for 37 years. He "employed" over 700,000 workers in the construction (and they weren't finished after 37 years). The video at the site described him as heroic but ruthless and just a year after his death the peasants revolted, overthrew the dynasty and some felt it necessary to break into his mausoleum and pillage and set it on fire. Perhaps he was more ruthless than heroic but he is due some thanks for allowing us to experience a little of their culture.
After we finished our tour of the warriors site we head back into the traffic jam and towards our hotel which is located just north of the south gate of the Xian city wall. (From what I've read.) This is the largest/oldest city wall in the world. (Add some more caveats and I'm sure to be correct.) The wall is about 12 to 15 meters tall and 10 to 12 meters wide. It runs roughly 4 KM east to west and 2 KM north to south. Walking the whole wall will take you just over 13 KM. As we didn't get back to the hotel until 4:30 and it was sort of raining and the wall closed at 6, Mom and Julie decided they weren't that interested so Dad and I headed out in the drizzle. On the wall you can rent bicycles and I just might have to return so that I can bike the wall. It looked like a good way to spend a day.
On the walk back from the wall we got some real excitement, which was unfortunate for a poor gentleman on a bike. Crossing the street in Xian is interesting to say the least. We have avoided it quite successfully for most of our time here but getting to the wall requires a trip across a roundabout and a feeder street. The roundabout was a piece of cake and Dad and I were standing on the island mentally and emotionally preparing to cross the feeder street and subsequent bus lane when smack! A gold minivan bumped a cyclist right to the ground.
Seeing someone hurt is an interesting experience when you have no ability to speak with the person. Asking someone who doesn't speak English if they are okay or if you can help probably only adds to the injury induced confusion. Additionally, just because a car is stopped and someone is laying on the road doesn't mean the cars, trucks, buses, etc. are going to stop, so you must be careful not turn one bad incident into a catastrophe.
Luckily the minivan wasn't going that fast and was able to stop before going over the poor cyclist. The occupants jumped out before Dad and I realized we could cross the street. My "interesting" sense of humor was thinking it was over the top for the nice gentleman to get hit by a minivan just so the two foreigners could safely cross the street, but from my experience you should never underestimate the kindness and generosity of the Chinese. The van occupants helped the cyclist to the sidewalk and got his bike out of the street while the vehicles around them berated them with their horns for blocking the lane. As I looked back I could see the passenger offering some money to the cyclist and the cyclist appeared to have survived the ordeal more or less in good shape. After the fact it seems most surprising that this was the first time I've actually witnessed a biker get hit by a car.
It was still drizzling when we decided to head out to dinner so we found a local family restaurant just down the street. The food was delicious. The waitress, well were not sure what happened there. Communication is always a challenge for us and sometimes it's just comical. I'm not sure if we/I offended this lady but after she got our food order and we thought our drink order she didn't come near our table again. There had been some confusion while ordering drinks and yours truly made it worse by trying to ask about beer brands instead of just accepting what was brought, which is the best thing to do in this situation. After the food came out and no drinks showed up we flagged down another employee and eventually got our beverages, which was nice as a couple of the dishes were quite spicy.
We have a 10 am train to Beijing that will get us back in the capital around 4 pm. Until next time have a great day.
-Ryan
Yesterday was our one full day in Xian and we had our driver from the night before, Peter, scheduled to pick us up at 9 am. We hopped in the car and got a good taste of Chinese holiday traffic. Many people, including Julie and I, are off of work Thursday and Friday for Tomb Sweeping Day. On most holidays the government eliminates the tolls for using the highways and the cars emerge. Peter put forth a valiant effort and got us to the warriors using every type of road and some paths that could be confused with a walking trail.
The warriors exhibit was well worth the drive. The craftsmanship and complexity of the objects that were created over 2000 years ago is amazing to witness. If being 2000 years old wouldn't have been bad enough having to survive angry rebels was just too much for many of the warriors, animals and chariots. The angry rebels who overthrew the Qin dynasty about a year after Emperor Qin Shi Huang's sudden death while inspecting the mausoleum, that is now the warriors site, had a special love of knocking off the heads of the Terra-cota satutes. Unfortunately this led to some confusion with our group. Let me add a pertinent details: each statute is said to be based on an actual solider. Given that each statue is based on an actual soldier Julie thought was very unfortunate how so many of the solider had no heads. : )
A few fun notes on Emperor Qin Shi Huang. He became Emperor at the age of 13. One of the first things he did was to start building his mausoleum, seems a little weird to me but what I do I know I've never been emperor. He ruled for 37 years before his untimely death while inspecting the mausoleum. So if you were paying attention the warriors site (aka Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum) was under construction for 37 years. He "employed" over 700,000 workers in the construction (and they weren't finished after 37 years). The video at the site described him as heroic but ruthless and just a year after his death the peasants revolted, overthrew the dynasty and some felt it necessary to break into his mausoleum and pillage and set it on fire. Perhaps he was more ruthless than heroic but he is due some thanks for allowing us to experience a little of their culture.
After we finished our tour of the warriors site we head back into the traffic jam and towards our hotel which is located just north of the south gate of the Xian city wall. (From what I've read.) This is the largest/oldest city wall in the world. (Add some more caveats and I'm sure to be correct.) The wall is about 12 to 15 meters tall and 10 to 12 meters wide. It runs roughly 4 KM east to west and 2 KM north to south. Walking the whole wall will take you just over 13 KM. As we didn't get back to the hotel until 4:30 and it was sort of raining and the wall closed at 6, Mom and Julie decided they weren't that interested so Dad and I headed out in the drizzle. On the wall you can rent bicycles and I just might have to return so that I can bike the wall. It looked like a good way to spend a day.
On the walk back from the wall we got some real excitement, which was unfortunate for a poor gentleman on a bike. Crossing the street in Xian is interesting to say the least. We have avoided it quite successfully for most of our time here but getting to the wall requires a trip across a roundabout and a feeder street. The roundabout was a piece of cake and Dad and I were standing on the island mentally and emotionally preparing to cross the feeder street and subsequent bus lane when smack! A gold minivan bumped a cyclist right to the ground.
Seeing someone hurt is an interesting experience when you have no ability to speak with the person. Asking someone who doesn't speak English if they are okay or if you can help probably only adds to the injury induced confusion. Additionally, just because a car is stopped and someone is laying on the road doesn't mean the cars, trucks, buses, etc. are going to stop, so you must be careful not turn one bad incident into a catastrophe.
Luckily the minivan wasn't going that fast and was able to stop before going over the poor cyclist. The occupants jumped out before Dad and I realized we could cross the street. My "interesting" sense of humor was thinking it was over the top for the nice gentleman to get hit by a minivan just so the two foreigners could safely cross the street, but from my experience you should never underestimate the kindness and generosity of the Chinese. The van occupants helped the cyclist to the sidewalk and got his bike out of the street while the vehicles around them berated them with their horns for blocking the lane. As I looked back I could see the passenger offering some money to the cyclist and the cyclist appeared to have survived the ordeal more or less in good shape. After the fact it seems most surprising that this was the first time I've actually witnessed a biker get hit by a car.
It was still drizzling when we decided to head out to dinner so we found a local family restaurant just down the street. The food was delicious. The waitress, well were not sure what happened there. Communication is always a challenge for us and sometimes it's just comical. I'm not sure if we/I offended this lady but after she got our food order and we thought our drink order she didn't come near our table again. There had been some confusion while ordering drinks and yours truly made it worse by trying to ask about beer brands instead of just accepting what was brought, which is the best thing to do in this situation. After the food came out and no drinks showed up we flagged down another employee and eventually got our beverages, which was nice as a couple of the dishes were quite spicy.
We have a 10 am train to Beijing that will get us back in the capital around 4 pm. Until next time have a great day.
-Ryan
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Back from Shanghai
The train from Shanghai got us back into smoggy Beijing around 4 o'clock on Sunday afternoon. We're not sure where the clear sky's that we left in Beijing went.
The three days in Shanghai were well spent. On Thursday after we got settled into our hotel near the People's Square the hotel got us a cab down to the river so we could take an evening river cruise of the HuangPu River. Shanghai has a very nice promenade that runs along the Bund. The Bund is the historic side of the river that has maintained it's 19th century charm and stares across the river to the Pudong district where the cities tallest skyscrapers reside. Additionally, the side of the river is home to many of the docks for the river cruises that we sought. Julie and I had taken one of these cruises before but had such a good time we were not hesitant about signing up for another. This boat was only about half full so there were plenty of seats to be had in the temperature controlled viewing area where we enjoyed the first half of the cruise. We gave up our seats and headed topside after we made the turn and got plenty of pictures. We'll have to share them later as the are on Mom and Dad Stiens camera.
After the cruise it had been a long day so we decided to just grab some food by near the hotel instead of venturing across the river. After a couple of failed attempts at hailing a taxi it was decided for us that it was a nice enough evening to stroll back to the hotel. If you don't speak Chinese getting a taxi can be a difficult experience in China. In Beijing and Shanghai the fares far outnumber the taxis so the taxi drivers have no qualms about refusing to pick you up. We scurried back to the hotel along the nearest avenue and missed only one turn before returning to our temporary home. The hotel had a nice restaurant on the second floor and we headed done to try the local cuisine. The meal consisted of several dishes served what we Americans would call family style. One of these dishes was fried noodles with Shanghai style. When in Shanghai, right? Now I could be wrong but it tasted like this dish was the inspiration for my favorite Chinese dish, Lo Mein. I was a fan. We all were a fan of the restaurant and Mom declared that we should come eat here again. This was not he first or last time we would hear her make this declaration.
On Friday, Julie's birthday celebration began. We started the morning with the boys heading out to get Starbucks for the ladies only to find out that in the metropolis that seems to be buzzing all night long the Starbucks didn't open until 7:30. Dad and I settled for McDonald's after the second coffee shop we went into told us they were still brewing and it would be ten more minutes. We're still working on that patience thing. After breakfast we hopped on the Shanghai metro and headed to Qibao. Qibao is a tourist destination as an example of a river town. There are many famous river towns in the greater Shanghai area and the surrounding cities of Suzhou, Wujin, etc. It was a nice view of life in the area in the past. Sometimes it looked like the recent past but that's interesting too. Mom & Dad got to see and smell some of the food they had been warned about before they had left, luckily it wasn't lunch time yet. Pictures are still with Mom & Dad Stiens so we'll pass them along later. After another wrong turn quickly corrected we found a restaurant for lunch which again provided us with a delicious meal and some rest before we headed out on our next exploration.
For the afternoon, I had planned a trip to the Shanghai Propaganda Poster Museum. Per the website the museum is located in the basement of an apartment complex and isn't highly advertised due to the sensitive nature of the displays. The museum contained posters from the beginning of the Communist era (late forties / early fifties) through the late seventies. These posters were one of the main means with which public opinion was shaped in China during this period. The museum housed many of the government produced (high quality posters) but citizens were encouraged to make there own handwritten posters making accusations against anyone and everyone. The accused would often come back in red ink and write responses on the posters. This process was responsible for a lot of the fear and paranoia that existed in the country during the period. In the late seventies the government decided that supporting this kind of behavior was counter productive and destroyed most of the material evidence of what had taken place. It was very interesting to be able to experience (on a small scale) what the average Chinese person must have been bombarded with during that time.
After the museum we had another "stroll" ahead of us so after a few blocks we decided to stop into a French cafe and have a refreshing beverage and relax for a spell before we continued our journey. Our next destination was Sasha's bar and restaurant for Julie's birthday dinner. Sasha's is located in the old Soong family mansion. The Soong family had three daughters who went on to marry the richest man in China, Sun Yat-sen - who was the first president of the Republic of China and Chiang Kai-shek, respectively. (You can follow the links if you want to know more.) This restaurant is now more American than Chinese, which for Julie and I it was nice to get a taste of home.
On Saturday, we continued our Julie birthday celebration by taking a bus tour of the city via the hop-on/hop-off bus. After getting taking the whole route we decided to go visit the Yuyuan garden, the temple to the city gods and less intentionally the Shanghai ancient street. We have many good pictures from the garden and the museum and as you can guess those are still with Mom & Dad Stiens, so we'll get those to you at a later date. Julie and I have learned that the term ancient street on a tourist map just means old style buildings housing souvenir shops. These streets are also very crowded and as they are in China most of the food is tailored to Chinese tourists, therefore it was voted that we would visit the local McDonald's for lunch. We visited the garden after lunch and then it was back to the hotel for a little R&R. To finish off the Julie birthday multi-day extravaganza we jumped back on the Hop-on/Hop-off bus and traveled under the HuangPu river. Don't worry there was a tunnel. Once we reached Pudong we were dropped off at the Oriental Pearl Tower and navigated our way to the Ritz-Carlton for drinks and dinner on the 58th floor. Again, we have some great pictures but they are with Mom and Dad Stiens, so guess what? We'll get them to you later.
Our train departing Shanghai left at eleven, so we had a lazy morning in the hotel. We caught a cab to the train station and waved goodbye to Shanghai.
-Ryan
The three days in Shanghai were well spent. On Thursday after we got settled into our hotel near the People's Square the hotel got us a cab down to the river so we could take an evening river cruise of the HuangPu River. Shanghai has a very nice promenade that runs along the Bund. The Bund is the historic side of the river that has maintained it's 19th century charm and stares across the river to the Pudong district where the cities tallest skyscrapers reside. Additionally, the side of the river is home to many of the docks for the river cruises that we sought. Julie and I had taken one of these cruises before but had such a good time we were not hesitant about signing up for another. This boat was only about half full so there were plenty of seats to be had in the temperature controlled viewing area where we enjoyed the first half of the cruise. We gave up our seats and headed topside after we made the turn and got plenty of pictures. We'll have to share them later as the are on Mom and Dad Stiens camera.
After the cruise it had been a long day so we decided to just grab some food by near the hotel instead of venturing across the river. After a couple of failed attempts at hailing a taxi it was decided for us that it was a nice enough evening to stroll back to the hotel. If you don't speak Chinese getting a taxi can be a difficult experience in China. In Beijing and Shanghai the fares far outnumber the taxis so the taxi drivers have no qualms about refusing to pick you up. We scurried back to the hotel along the nearest avenue and missed only one turn before returning to our temporary home. The hotel had a nice restaurant on the second floor and we headed done to try the local cuisine. The meal consisted of several dishes served what we Americans would call family style. One of these dishes was fried noodles with Shanghai style. When in Shanghai, right? Now I could be wrong but it tasted like this dish was the inspiration for my favorite Chinese dish, Lo Mein. I was a fan. We all were a fan of the restaurant and Mom declared that we should come eat here again. This was not he first or last time we would hear her make this declaration.
On Friday, Julie's birthday celebration began. We started the morning with the boys heading out to get Starbucks for the ladies only to find out that in the metropolis that seems to be buzzing all night long the Starbucks didn't open until 7:30. Dad and I settled for McDonald's after the second coffee shop we went into told us they were still brewing and it would be ten more minutes. We're still working on that patience thing. After breakfast we hopped on the Shanghai metro and headed to Qibao. Qibao is a tourist destination as an example of a river town. There are many famous river towns in the greater Shanghai area and the surrounding cities of Suzhou, Wujin, etc. It was a nice view of life in the area in the past. Sometimes it looked like the recent past but that's interesting too. Mom & Dad got to see and smell some of the food they had been warned about before they had left, luckily it wasn't lunch time yet. Pictures are still with Mom & Dad Stiens so we'll pass them along later. After another wrong turn quickly corrected we found a restaurant for lunch which again provided us with a delicious meal and some rest before we headed out on our next exploration.
For the afternoon, I had planned a trip to the Shanghai Propaganda Poster Museum. Per the website the museum is located in the basement of an apartment complex and isn't highly advertised due to the sensitive nature of the displays. The museum contained posters from the beginning of the Communist era (late forties / early fifties) through the late seventies. These posters were one of the main means with which public opinion was shaped in China during this period. The museum housed many of the government produced (high quality posters) but citizens were encouraged to make there own handwritten posters making accusations against anyone and everyone. The accused would often come back in red ink and write responses on the posters. This process was responsible for a lot of the fear and paranoia that existed in the country during the period. In the late seventies the government decided that supporting this kind of behavior was counter productive and destroyed most of the material evidence of what had taken place. It was very interesting to be able to experience (on a small scale) what the average Chinese person must have been bombarded with during that time.
After the museum we had another "stroll" ahead of us so after a few blocks we decided to stop into a French cafe and have a refreshing beverage and relax for a spell before we continued our journey. Our next destination was Sasha's bar and restaurant for Julie's birthday dinner. Sasha's is located in the old Soong family mansion. The Soong family had three daughters who went on to marry the richest man in China, Sun Yat-sen - who was the first president of the Republic of China and Chiang Kai-shek, respectively. (You can follow the links if you want to know more.) This restaurant is now more American than Chinese, which for Julie and I it was nice to get a taste of home.
On Saturday, we continued our Julie birthday celebration by taking a bus tour of the city via the hop-on/hop-off bus. After getting taking the whole route we decided to go visit the Yuyuan garden, the temple to the city gods and less intentionally the Shanghai ancient street. We have many good pictures from the garden and the museum and as you can guess those are still with Mom & Dad Stiens, so we'll get those to you at a later date. Julie and I have learned that the term ancient street on a tourist map just means old style buildings housing souvenir shops. These streets are also very crowded and as they are in China most of the food is tailored to Chinese tourists, therefore it was voted that we would visit the local McDonald's for lunch. We visited the garden after lunch and then it was back to the hotel for a little R&R. To finish off the Julie birthday multi-day extravaganza we jumped back on the Hop-on/Hop-off bus and traveled under the HuangPu river. Don't worry there was a tunnel. Once we reached Pudong we were dropped off at the Oriental Pearl Tower and navigated our way to the Ritz-Carlton for drinks and dinner on the 58th floor. Again, we have some great pictures but they are with Mom and Dad Stiens, so guess what? We'll get them to you later.
Our train departing Shanghai left at eleven, so we had a lazy morning in the hotel. We caught a cab to the train station and waved goodbye to Shanghai.
-Ryan
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
On the road again
Well on the train, but you know what I mean. Just rolled out of bed and we are scurrying around getting our breakfast and making sure we've packed everything we need for Shanghai. Lily, the administrator in charge of teacher affairs, is driving us to the bus stop this morning at 7:10. Thanks to her kind offer we can skip the ten minute walk and first bus ride, so all we have to do is take the express bus to subway line six then ride line six to the transfer with line four and then take line four to the Beijing South Railway Station. I thought it would be a good idea for our guests to get a guided trip on the subway system before we unleashed them on their own next week.
As you can imagine there is not a whole lot of time to spare this morning, so I'll suffice to say we've had a great few days here in Yongding and unsurprising the school has been extremely kind and generous. We'll fill you in on more of the details in a few days.
Hope all is well.
Ryan
As you can imagine there is not a whole lot of time to spare this morning, so I'll suffice to say we've had a great few days here in Yongding and unsurprising the school has been extremely kind and generous. We'll fill you in on more of the details in a few days.
Hope all is well.
Ryan
Monday, March 25, 2013
Success
Third time proved to be the charm for Mom & Dad Stiens. I found out about three AM this morning when I stumbled out of bed and make it to my email which contained the good news. Julie and I worked this AM and then headed for the airport with Mr. Wang and Rose. I managed to walk into the terminal about five minutes before our guests walked my direction. We snapped a couple of pictures, I know shocking for China, then we were back in the van and headed back to school.
We had a quick tour of the school, grabbed some dinner and then it was time for some shut eye for our weary travelers.
-Ryan
We had a quick tour of the school, grabbed some dinner and then it was time for some shut eye for our weary travelers.
-Ryan
Sunday, March 24, 2013
3rd times the charm?
Well we awoke on Saturday morning to find out that at the last minute the Friday Detroit to Beijing fly filled to the brim and Mom and Dad Stiens didn't get a seat. They also were given dim prospects for the Saturday flight, which proved accurate. Now we are shooting for Sunday flight, with much better odds at least.
Julie and I did our best to make the best of it and enjoyed the hotel room. It was quite a room too. It had to be at least twice the size of our apartment. Had a full kitchen, with a washing machine. Two full baths. Two bedrooms and a good size living room, dining room area. It did lack wifi in the room and the TVs were circa 2002, but you can't have everything right?
Before we made it to the hotel it was time to check another item off Julie's 30 before 30 list. She is down to a few but we hadn't made it to the zoo and the air wasn't all that bad and it was relatively warm. Julie wanted me to say it was chilly instead of freezing cold. We liked the monkeys best. There were snub-nosed monkeys which were some of the most disturbing things I've seen ... lately. It really make you appreciate the human nose. Many of the animals were around due to the cold weather. The elephants looked a bit pathetic in their cages. Apparently they don't like the cold. Perhaps our expectations should have been tampered compared to the big fellas we saw in Thailand. We saved the pandas for last. Their were two. The first was concerning. It appeared to have skin issue and was balding. It also seemed to have this tick were it would rotate it's head an open it's mouth every few seconds. The second seemed to be in much better shape. It was quite active but as with most of the animals at the zoo it had a set track it seemed to walk. It also had a rocking chair and a rocking horse. Unfortunately, it never got on either.
Sticking to the theme of Julie's list we got dressed up and headed out to dinner. Not being able to speak Chinese causes some issues including when it comes to trying to make reservations, so we do with out. We showed up at the restaurant and got our place in line. We were number 134 and they were on 69. It's Beijing what can you expect. It didn't take as long as we thought it would and they had some nice snacks in the waiting area for us an our hundred or so friends. When we got our table the restaurant did live up to the billing. Definitely some of the best hot pot we had, had in China. It's taken us almost seven months but now Julie and I feel comfortable going to hot pot on our own.
Due to the lack of wifi in the room I headed out early Sunday morning to Starbucks. Once I arrived it looked closed but the guy in front of me went in, so I followed him in. The man I followed in proceeded to go behind the counter and into the back and I figured it be a bad idea to keep following him so I stopped. No one came out to the counter for about three or five minutes, but it was twenty till seven and I had nothing to do so wait it was. The man I had followed in proceeded to reappear and let me know the store didn't open till seven. Back out the door and off to McDonald's. They were open but the wifi was a little finicky so after a seat change I finally had found out that the Saturday flight had not worked out.
We spent the morning in the city and let the school know we would have to reschedule Monday's activities and hopefully pick-up the parents at the airport Monday afternoon. We'll keep you posted ...
Ryan
Julie and I did our best to make the best of it and enjoyed the hotel room. It was quite a room too. It had to be at least twice the size of our apartment. Had a full kitchen, with a washing machine. Two full baths. Two bedrooms and a good size living room, dining room area. It did lack wifi in the room and the TVs were circa 2002, but you can't have everything right?
Before we made it to the hotel it was time to check another item off Julie's 30 before 30 list. She is down to a few but we hadn't made it to the zoo and the air wasn't all that bad and it was relatively warm. Julie wanted me to say it was chilly instead of freezing cold. We liked the monkeys best. There were snub-nosed monkeys which were some of the most disturbing things I've seen ... lately. It really make you appreciate the human nose. Many of the animals were around due to the cold weather. The elephants looked a bit pathetic in their cages. Apparently they don't like the cold. Perhaps our expectations should have been tampered compared to the big fellas we saw in Thailand. We saved the pandas for last. Their were two. The first was concerning. It appeared to have skin issue and was balding. It also seemed to have this tick were it would rotate it's head an open it's mouth every few seconds. The second seemed to be in much better shape. It was quite active but as with most of the animals at the zoo it had a set track it seemed to walk. It also had a rocking chair and a rocking horse. Unfortunately, it never got on either.
Sticking to the theme of Julie's list we got dressed up and headed out to dinner. Not being able to speak Chinese causes some issues including when it comes to trying to make reservations, so we do with out. We showed up at the restaurant and got our place in line. We were number 134 and they were on 69. It's Beijing what can you expect. It didn't take as long as we thought it would and they had some nice snacks in the waiting area for us an our hundred or so friends. When we got our table the restaurant did live up to the billing. Definitely some of the best hot pot we had, had in China. It's taken us almost seven months but now Julie and I feel comfortable going to hot pot on our own.
Due to the lack of wifi in the room I headed out early Sunday morning to Starbucks. Once I arrived it looked closed but the guy in front of me went in, so I followed him in. The man I followed in proceeded to go behind the counter and into the back and I figured it be a bad idea to keep following him so I stopped. No one came out to the counter for about three or five minutes, but it was twenty till seven and I had nothing to do so wait it was. The man I had followed in proceeded to reappear and let me know the store didn't open till seven. Back out the door and off to McDonald's. They were open but the wifi was a little finicky so after a seat change I finally had found out that the Saturday flight had not worked out.
We spent the morning in the city and let the school know we would have to reschedule Monday's activities and hopefully pick-up the parents at the airport Monday afternoon. We'll keep you posted ...
Ryan
Friday, March 22, 2013
Visitors
We are wrapping up another busy week that has mainly revolved around the upcoming visit from Mom and Dad Stiens. It also included a surprise that I have been cast as Prince Charming in a rendition of Snow White. You probably know just as much about this performance as I do. Yesterday one of the teachers told me she needed my help and that I was going to be in the play. She didn't include when the play was or provide my lines. Just that we were going to practice on Friday.
On Friday morning we were running around getting ready for kindergarten, finding a room for the visitors, and providing our travel schedule to the administration when I was informed that our play practice would be at 9:50. That just so happens to coincide with my kindergarten class. After saying that I had to be at kindergarten at 9:50, it was determined that it wasn't a problem. Maybe I don't need practice? There is a chance this play will be on Monday, so here's hoping I'm a quick study.
Back to the visitors. While Mom and Dad Stiens will be in China our itinerary will include visits to Shanghai and Xian along with our time in Beijing. These three cities are not anywhere close to each other. My first suggestion was to take advantage of the sleeper trains. The ladies in our party quickly nixed this idea due to the lack of western bathing facilities on said trains. With that option out of the way we decided to go with the high-speed or bullet trains. Now that we had decided on our mode of transportation it was up to yours truly to get us on board. After some extensive research on purchasing train tickets in China. I found that their are a couple of English speaking ticket counters in the city but they are a haul from our home here in Yongding. There are train ticket outlets all over the city, including one just a few kilometers from our home. Another interesting fact about train tickets in China is that they don't go on sale until 18 days before departure. You can buy them before that but you have to use a travel agency a pay a nice mark-up of about 25%+. Also, if you are literate in Mandarin you can purchase them at www.12306.cn, and a fellow teacher volunteered to help me go this route.
We worked at this route for about 30 minutes and decided we should take the short drive to the ticket office. After school we hopped into the principal's car (his assistant also teaches a couple of English classes) and headed out to buy the tickets and fill-up the car. Our short drive took a bit of a detour as we missed the ticket office on the first pass. Then took a few more minutes attempting to parallel park before deciding the spot wasn't big enough and then took a few more minutes on a different parallel parking attempt. Without too much elaboration, I got to drive in China and we made it to the ticket office. Once in the office we quickly found out that they only take cash, so right back out we went and walked to an ATM.
At the ATM I realized we had a problem as I needed almost four times the withdrawal limit that was posted on the ATM. After asking if the branch was still open so I could make a larger withdrawal, my co-worker looked at me dumbfounded and said just make another withdrawal. Apparently it is not a daily withdrawal limit but an actual single withdrawal limit. There was no need to even take the card out. I got the max cash and hit the withdrawal button again and got the max cash and hit the withdrawal button again and got the max cash and hit the withdrawal button again and got almost the max cash and we were on our way back to the ticket office.
I had all the train tickets (sixteen in all) that I needed written out and my co-worker and the two ladies were pretty wide-eyed when they saw/heard what all I was buying They were quickly more wide-eyed when they told me how much I owed and watched me pull all the cash out of my pockets. Thank goodness there is so little crime in China. We had our tickets and were off to the gas station. At the gas station I learned it cost RMB320 to fill up a Hyundai Elantra. A rough conversion is about $50. My first thought was how do cab driver's make any money and my second thought was it's been so long since I filled up in the US I have no idea how this compares and there is the liters to gallons issue to make it even more difficult.
All that drama took place on Wednesday and Thursdays lead Julie and I to our branch schools. The excitement at my branch school was that one of the geese was laying eggs. Every couple hours one of my fellow English teachers would scurry into the office with a fresh egg. After the third I finally asked what they (the teachers) planned to do with them (the eggs). They hadn't decided yet and were waiting until they had four (one for each of them) before they made a decision. One of the teachers did tell me to invite my parents to come pick eggs. Unfortunately, I thought she said pick axe and well it took about a minute and a half to get that corrected.
Advancing to this morning (Friday) my friend who helped me get the train tickets was assisting with setting up the lodging for Mom and Dad Stiens and told me that the room was very simple and the school would get my parents a hotel room. This is just a small example how generous our hosts are and how much they coddle Julie and me. A larger example, and Mom and Dad may want to take them up on part of it, was that another administrator offered to have one of the school employees drive my parents around the city in what sounded like a private tour guide role. We certainly are surrounded by some very kindhearted people.
Well I feel like I've gone on for quite a while and I'm sure there are still a few matters I should wrap up for our visitors arrival tomorrow. I hope everyone is enjoying the NCAA tournament and didn't everyone think New Mexico was going to make a run to the Final Four?
All the best,
Ryan
On Friday morning we were running around getting ready for kindergarten, finding a room for the visitors, and providing our travel schedule to the administration when I was informed that our play practice would be at 9:50. That just so happens to coincide with my kindergarten class. After saying that I had to be at kindergarten at 9:50, it was determined that it wasn't a problem. Maybe I don't need practice? There is a chance this play will be on Monday, so here's hoping I'm a quick study.
Back to the visitors. While Mom and Dad Stiens will be in China our itinerary will include visits to Shanghai and Xian along with our time in Beijing. These three cities are not anywhere close to each other. My first suggestion was to take advantage of the sleeper trains. The ladies in our party quickly nixed this idea due to the lack of western bathing facilities on said trains. With that option out of the way we decided to go with the high-speed or bullet trains. Now that we had decided on our mode of transportation it was up to yours truly to get us on board. After some extensive research on purchasing train tickets in China. I found that their are a couple of English speaking ticket counters in the city but they are a haul from our home here in Yongding. There are train ticket outlets all over the city, including one just a few kilometers from our home. Another interesting fact about train tickets in China is that they don't go on sale until 18 days before departure. You can buy them before that but you have to use a travel agency a pay a nice mark-up of about 25%+. Also, if you are literate in Mandarin you can purchase them at www.12306.cn, and a fellow teacher volunteered to help me go this route.
We worked at this route for about 30 minutes and decided we should take the short drive to the ticket office. After school we hopped into the principal's car (his assistant also teaches a couple of English classes) and headed out to buy the tickets and fill-up the car. Our short drive took a bit of a detour as we missed the ticket office on the first pass. Then took a few more minutes attempting to parallel park before deciding the spot wasn't big enough and then took a few more minutes on a different parallel parking attempt. Without too much elaboration, I got to drive in China and we made it to the ticket office. Once in the office we quickly found out that they only take cash, so right back out we went and walked to an ATM.
At the ATM I realized we had a problem as I needed almost four times the withdrawal limit that was posted on the ATM. After asking if the branch was still open so I could make a larger withdrawal, my co-worker looked at me dumbfounded and said just make another withdrawal. Apparently it is not a daily withdrawal limit but an actual single withdrawal limit. There was no need to even take the card out. I got the max cash and hit the withdrawal button again and got the max cash and hit the withdrawal button again and got the max cash and hit the withdrawal button again and got almost the max cash and we were on our way back to the ticket office.
I had all the train tickets (sixteen in all) that I needed written out and my co-worker and the two ladies were pretty wide-eyed when they saw/heard what all I was buying They were quickly more wide-eyed when they told me how much I owed and watched me pull all the cash out of my pockets. Thank goodness there is so little crime in China. We had our tickets and were off to the gas station. At the gas station I learned it cost RMB320 to fill up a Hyundai Elantra. A rough conversion is about $50. My first thought was how do cab driver's make any money and my second thought was it's been so long since I filled up in the US I have no idea how this compares and there is the liters to gallons issue to make it even more difficult.
All that drama took place on Wednesday and Thursdays lead Julie and I to our branch schools. The excitement at my branch school was that one of the geese was laying eggs. Every couple hours one of my fellow English teachers would scurry into the office with a fresh egg. After the third I finally asked what they (the teachers) planned to do with them (the eggs). They hadn't decided yet and were waiting until they had four (one for each of them) before they made a decision. One of the teachers did tell me to invite my parents to come pick eggs. Unfortunately, I thought she said pick axe and well it took about a minute and a half to get that corrected.
Advancing to this morning (Friday) my friend who helped me get the train tickets was assisting with setting up the lodging for Mom and Dad Stiens and told me that the room was very simple and the school would get my parents a hotel room. This is just a small example how generous our hosts are and how much they coddle Julie and me. A larger example, and Mom and Dad may want to take them up on part of it, was that another administrator offered to have one of the school employees drive my parents around the city in what sounded like a private tour guide role. We certainly are surrounded by some very kindhearted people.
Well I feel like I've gone on for quite a while and I'm sure there are still a few matters I should wrap up for our visitors arrival tomorrow. I hope everyone is enjoying the NCAA tournament and didn't everyone think New Mexico was going to make a run to the Final Four?
All the best,
Ryan
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