Final Thoughts on China

Ah.... It was finally our last day in China. 

We woke up and met all of our co-students in the lobby of our hotel where tears were shed, QQ (A Chinese social network) numbers were shared, and promises of seeing each other next year were made. It was a very emotional morning.

Then, boarded the bus back to Shanghai. After the 5 hour drive, we made it to the airport. Then, we prepared ourselves for the exhausting flight ahead of us from Shanghai to Detroit. Then, a 2 hour layover and another flight, we arrived in Atlanta. Longest Monday of my life!

Now that I'm finally home, comfortable in my AC, I can honestly say I'll miss China. I've made tons of unforgettable memories, and now I can say I have friends on the other side of the world. I'm incredibly blessed to have the opportunity to travel abroad, especially with the company that I had with me. Our trip definitely wouldn't have been as special without the King of KTV, Dr. Garrett, and Dr. Reed.

Without further ado, til' next time, China!!

Our final day at Taizhou University!

Our final day at Taizhou University included a trip to a temple that seemed to be built in the water, the Great Wall in Linhai City, and several Buddhist temples. Honestly, words can't describe what an experience it was for us. So, here's a few pictures to do that for me... A picture's worth a thousand words, right??

All of the pictures above are from the first stop of the day. This place was so relaxing. It was so funny, though, it seemed like all of the Chinese retirees went there to practice their daily activities. But hey! If I were retired and lived near a thousand year old temple, I might wake up early to do some Tai Chi there, too! 

Our next stop would be the Great Wall of Linhai. The entrance of the part that we were to walk was definitely a behemoth.... Let me just post a picture to explain.

Yeah, all those are stairs. I was panting for my breath halfway through the first set. When we finally reached the top, we did a quick victory dance, and then we all bought fans. Not even to keep as souvenirs, but for practical use. Smart marketing tactic on the location, might I add. Already exhausted, we began our journey down the wall. We walked at least a 5k! Before I post pictures of the wall, however, here's a few of the great Engrish signs we found along the way:

Small cigarette, not a big park landscape it swallowed.

What??

Trash has the family I to deliver it, Environmental protection you may he. 

Everyone make sure you take note!!

Now, here are the pictures I took on the wall:

Sorry, Lea! It was so hot- we were all wiping sweat off of our faces. We journeyed up there, and sang "I'll Make a Man Out of You" by Mulan for motivation. I have to tell you, it actually worked! I felt much more ready to hike after that. 

"Be a Man!

We must be swift as a coursing river...

Be a Man!

With all the force of a great typhoon...

Be a Man!

With all the strength of a raging fire...

Mysterious as the Dark Side of the Moon!"

When we got to a certain point at the wall, we reached a Buddhist temple. Turns out, it's a big deal to take pictures of Buddah... oops.

After a bit further, we finally reached the bottom! It was time for a victory picture!

Next stop on our final sight-seeing adventure: another Buddhist temple!

After this exhausting, yet incredible day, we went back to the hotel, showered up, and prepared for our final dinner in China.

We went to the teacher's canteen and met all of our teachers, several staff members, and all of our co-students. We were to make dumplings! It is tradition in China to eat dumplings as a "coming home" food. So, they thought it would be a great activity to make them ourselves. 

I'm probably the worst dumpling maker in the world, by the way.

Alongside the dumplings, we had several other dishes... Including preserved eggs. Yes! I tried them. They tasted similar to deviled eggs.

After our dinner, we exchanged gifts with our co-students and even a few tears were shed. It was becoming real for us- we really had to go back home.

Interviews, Shopping, and a Birthday! Day 10

After the long night at the No. 1 Scholar, we woke up, ate breakfast, and then went to one of the arts room and prepared for something rather unexpected. All of the English major students were there, and they set up the room like a TV set. The Americans were seated at one side of the room and our co-students on the other. Coco and Gandalf (yes! Gandalf) were our hosts for the morning. They asked us questions that revolved around music- what part music plays in our lives, and several other questions. After a long morning of getting to know each other, we went back and had lunch, and then our co-students and Megan took us to a Chinese supermarket- kind of like a Walmart- to do some more shopping. 

We encountered a few strange things while shopping- the first was they confiscated our bags and put them in another bag from the store and put a security tag on it so we couldn't open it. Another thing we experienced is all of the strange produce.

Have you ever seen a dragonfruit? 

This is what dragonfruit looks like on the outside, and it looks like a white kiwi with black seeds on the inside.

They also have live fish for sale in the meat department! That's one way to ensure freshness, I guess.

After we got back from shopping and dinner, we realized it was one of our special friends' birthdays! After dinner, we hurried to the on campus shops to buy things to decorate a room to throw a party. We made crepe banners, a door sign, and a few posters. Not to mention a crown and sash for the birthday boy, Eathen to wear. We celebrated by playing cards, a quick game of "Whose Line Is it Anyway?" and a few other fun activities. We even gave him presents! After all, what birthday is complete without them?

After that, we decided to hit the hay earlier to prepare for our last day in China- we had a lot ahead of us, including a trip to the Great Wall and several other temples.

Skin Scraping, Chinese Culture, and the No. 1 Scholar- Day 9

When we woke up on Friday morning, our 9th day at TU, we went to our second Traditional Chinese Medicine class. This time, after reviewing what we covered from the first class, our teacher performed  "gua sha" on Noah and Zane. Gua sha is Chinese for "skin scraping." It works by the person performing gua sha by taking oils and putting it on the skin, and scraping the skin with a hard tool. It brings the blood to the top of the skin. Apparently, the more blood that comes to the top, and the darker the blood, the more sick the person is. Noah and Zane both didn't particularly bruise too much, and the teacher said that they seemed to be healthy. Here's a few pictures of the process:

She said that Zane had some knots that needed to be worked out, so she decided to use cupping on his back. 

After the gua sha demonstration, our teacher told us that we all needed to be healthy. So, she taught us a few yoga/tai chi forms to keep us healthy. It was definitely a relaxing way to end the class- even if I thought I might split my pants from bending over.

Before we left Traditional Chinese Medicine class, Dr. Reed got a massage, and then, lunch!

After lunch, we went to our afternoon class- Chinese culture. My phone battery died, however, and I was forced to leave it in the room during this class. 1600 photos over 14 days... How do I miss these important events?! 

Anyway, Chinese culture was very interesting. Hazel was our teacher- we had met her before. Prior to Chinese culture class, she was the interpreter for our music teacher. We enjoyed her class very much! She was a great teacher. She taught us about several important parts of Chinese culture- their festivals, traditional clothing, and Chinese marriages. We enjoyed her class so much that we  ran the time over by almost an hour! 

We had to literally run back to the hotel to get ready for dinner- we had dinner with the school president, several deans, Megan, Hazel and several other staff members. It was a great honor! We went to the No. 1 Scholar- a thousand year old restaurant about 20 minutes from the University. We went in, and descended some stairs to the room where we dined. A huge table was set up in the middle of the room with a huge Lazy Susan on top of it. We were served rice wine, beer, and tons and tons of food. We ate and ate, and toasted each other all night long. The President of the University even presented all of us with Taizhou University pins:

After we were all sufficiently happy with our intake of food and drink, we took many, many pictures with everyone. 

It was a great way to start winding down our trip! After dinner, we went back and some of us even went to KTV for the third time. I was incredibly tired so I stayed back. Then, we went to bed and prepared for our last two days before we went back home. 

A Hurricane, an American Lecture, and a Lazy Susan Dinner- Days 7 & 8

On our 7th day at TU, we went to our second Chinese language class, where we learned a few more phrases and did some origami! No, origami isn't Chinese but it definitely kept us occupied. 

My sad little crane 

After our origami/Chinese class, we had an exceptionally long lunch break. This was much needed for me because I had quite a headache. When it was over, we boarded the bus again to tour the lake near the TU campus... Little did I know, it would rain like there was a hurricane. It was so unexpected and we all huddled under our umbrellas because the bus left us!

I took this clear-skied picture maybe 10 minutes before the downpour began.. 

And then, there we were, struggling to keep our cameras dry in the Chinese hurricane.

After this, we went to a park. I didn't bring my camera this time, for fear of another drenching. I wish I had, though, because the park we visited was beautiful! After our park tour, we went back to the campus, dried off, showered, threw on some clothes and went to dinner.

After playing some cards in Lea and Whitney's room, we went to bed and geared up for day 8.

DAY 8

After breakfast, we went to our Chinese literature class. We discussed a very famous play in Chinese literature called "A Dream in Red Mansions" and then some of the Chinese students performed a small part of it. 

After Chinese literature class and lunch, we went to Dr. Reed's lecture. She lectured on her typical daily routines as an American English professor. 

After Dr. Reed's lecture, we went and waited for dinner.  The girl that played narrator in the morning's lecture was our hostess- she took us to a Traditional Chinese restaurant that featured a Lazy Susan. The food we had was amazing. 

Fish soup

An eggplant dish

I was so excited about eating that I didn't even take that many pictures of the food!

After that amazing dinner, we tried to hurry back on campus for English Corner. Again, we didn't make it there on time, so we just ended up hanging out in the rooms for the rest of the night.