2008-03 March Galleries

20080322 - Apt. 704 View : Daily life as seen from my 7th story apartment... The main road is Chengfu Lu, which runs east-west through the university district of Beijing...

20080322 - Apt. 704 View

Daily life as seen from my 7th story apartment... The main road is Che ...

Updated: Mar 22, 2008 7:48pm PST

20080321 - Dinner Party : As class monitor, I decided to invite my classmates over to experience a taste of the American *Potluck*. It turned out to be a cozy gathering of 7-8 people, including my roommate and her mother. I was exited to share some American bakery, as I at last purchased a small oven. This last week, I've been experimenting with various breads and cookies... and even made an apple pie at the request of a Korean classmate. The New Zealand butter has a *different* flavor than what I'm used to, but even *finding* butter here was a joy! In the end, we represented China, Korea, Japan, Brazil, and America. Our Chinese must be improving rapidly, as there was never a dull moment!

20080321 - Dinner Party

As class monitor, I decided to invite my classmates over to experience ...

Updated: Mar 22, 2008 11:15pm PST

20080320 - The Great Wall: Mu Tian Yu : The Beijing Language and Culture University designated the first day of Spring to be our *language practice* day... a trip to the Great Wall, in particular, the Mu Tian Yu section. Beijing has perhaps 5 different areas of the Great Wall that have been tourist-enabled (i.e., rebuilt.) This was the 2nd section opened, intended to relieve some of the traffic to the Ba Da Ling section. The *real* Great wall is in fact reaching a Zen state as the earth consumes it after thousands of years. These touristy sections are more-or-less capped with a fresh wall that can withstand the daily trodding of tourists. Just an hour's drive from the busy campus sector of Beijing, the Great wall is tucked into the mountains and hidden behind fields of farmland. The drive itself is enjoyable, as you get to see the transition (albeit sprawl) of the city to the countryside, where skyscrapers stay behind and the mountains stand strong.

20080320 - The Great Wall: Mu Tian Yu

The Beijing Language and Culture University designated the first day o ...

Updated: Mar 21, 2008 11:55pm PST

20080303 - The Forbidden City： 故宫 : March 8: International Women's Day. In China, known as "三八“ or"3•8", i.e., the Third Month, the 8th Day. On this particular 3•8, we gals entered for half-price admission, only ¥20! I joined two Korean classmates on an outing to the Forbidden City, which entailed 3 subway lines and the #11 bus (i.e., much walking on the 'two legs.') They were much tougher than I, as they *sported* 6-8cm heels for the entire journey! Wow. The Forbidden City is rumored to have 9999.5 rooms - and as you can guess, '9' is a lucky number in China, as it sounds similar to their word for liquor. :) In fact, there are *only* 8707 rooms. There is so much history here, that it is a pity to come here without reading up on the stories first! I also have much to learn about China's restoration techniques, as it seems "painting directly on top of the old" is a common way to 'freshen things up', i.e., restore. The colors are intense, the architecture symbolic of China's style. And as one might expect, one of the main highlights was watching the other tourists... A few obvious foreigners, but mostly Chinese. Shady characters are aplenty in the outer gated areas, looking for an easy sell or more. After 4 hours, we had only visited a fraction of the museums treasures... aching feet and hungry stomachs guided us back to our point of return...

20080303 - The Forbidden City： 故宫

March 8: International Women's Day. In China, known as "三八“ or" ...

Updated: Mar 23, 2008 6:40am PST

20080301 - Week 5 : An assortment of photos from the week, including: sunsets, dinners with my roommate's family, campus restaurants, a trip to a shopping center, studying on campus, the entrance to my apartment, the three artists I met on the street, and another street painter.

20080301 - Week 5

An assortment of photos from the week, including: sunsets, dinners wit ...

Updated: Apr 01, 2008 6:00pm PST

20080301 - Grocery Products : A tour of some packaged foods at the local grocery store... and with their interesting English translations.

20080301 - Grocery Products

A tour of some packaged foods at the local grocery store... and with t ...

Updated: Mar 22, 2008 8:55pm PST