颐和园 Summer Palace

Forget all the castles in Europe! The Chinese know how to build for the royal. I feel sorry for Princess Kate and Prince William, they deserve a Summer Palace like this. 

We spent the entire day there and still didn't see all of the palace. 

Back in the old days people usually only lived in certain sections of the palace. Meaning you could go your whole life and not see the entire palace. 

But before we even got to the palace I accidentally caused quite the scene. All I wanted was a simple bottle of water. And a man was trying to sell one to me for 5元 (still less than $1, but usually you buy them for 2元). So the women selling water across from him said, "Wait! I'll sell water to you for 2元". 

Well the water man was not to happy about that...so he started screaming at the water woman...AND THEN STARTED THROWING GLASS BOTTLES! 
We snagged a pic for legal records then bolted to the palace safe and sound. No word on how the battle of the bottles ended. 





And what did we do when we got to the place? Were as touristy as possible and took a peace sign pic!

I really cannot even begin to explain how beautiful the Summer Palace is. Every square inch was hand-painted and/or hand-carved perfection. Not to mention the buildings were build in, on, and around giant rocks. So you always felt like you just stumbled upon a new building. There were times where we just climbed up random rocks and at the top would be a building you couldn't see from down below. 



Chinese art is so stunning! I couldn't find how exactly how many years it took to build the Palace. But, with all of this detail covering every single inch of the place - I'm sure it took a little bit of time. 

Now like I mentioned earlier, the Summer Palace is built around rocks; meaning there is plenty of rocks to climb. And boy, did we climb them! It was just like being a little kid again. Where everything is nothing more than a giant playground. We even found some prime places to practice our Kung Fu. I don't know about the boys, but I was channeling my inner Kung Fu Panda!


While the rocks were a lot of fun, what would an adventure in China be without stairs?!

In less than a month I've discovered one thing I really must do. Learn to love stairs. I have a feeling I'll be using them frequently. 






The next few pictures, I really don't have words for. Here are some of the building we stumbled upon!

This one (above) is my favorite. We had just climbed up to what (we though) was the last building on the property. We looked down and saw that there was something more. So, we decided to climb down the stairs. It turned out to be a long, long hallway. A beautiful hallway - don't get me wrong. But one of those, "Are we there yet moments" started occurring. We finally came across a small door; walked through it and BAM - this stunning view.

Here's a panorama from the highest placed building :)

xoxo,

公主雷洁 (Princess Jessica)

楼梯师山峰 (Stair Master Mountain Top)

Now, in theory...this is the name of the mountain area I was in. I've taken on the liberty of renaming it, Stair Master Mountain. I just feel that name is more fitting. 

Last weekend the school took us on a mountain climbing race. They divided us into teams and wished us the best of luck. See that loooong building at the top of the mountain (just squint a little harder if you can't)? That was the finish line. 

So, how many steps would it take to get to the top of that mountain? 1,300. That's right I walked up thirteen-hundred concrete steps. 
  **Now I just have to take a moment to be a little grump about something. Note that I said concrete steps. I was ready for nature in China. While I know some pieces of hikes have to be concrete/stone I wasn't expecting the entire trail to be solid concrete. 

Okay, back to how wonderful it was! 

This pic was taken at the halfway point...Trevor and I were starting to worry we wouldn't make it to the top. The disclaimer should be noted that 14ers in CO versus thirteen-hundred concrete steps are easier...kinda. 

And this is the exact step where I learned the true meaning of, "So close, yet oh so far". 

And then...just over three-hundred concrete steps later...

WE MADE IT TO THE TOP OF STAIR MASTER MOUNTAIN


So what does one do at the top of a mountain in China? 1.)Be amazed by the incredible architecture China has to offer. Literally no matter where I am, from the most popular streets in Beijing to the top of a quiet Chinese mountain, it's obvious that every single detail was accounted for and perfected. 

2.)Can't forget to take in the beautiful view!! I admit it was definitely worth taking on the stairs. 

3.)And celebrate that we actually made it to the top! We ate a royal feast of birthday cake oreos and crackers with peanut butter! 

^^ 在这儿是我跟有的朋友们 Here I am with some of my friends!



在这儿是我跟我的队友！Here I am with my mountain climbing team>>>







Let's not forget that we accomplished thirteen-hundred concrete steps ...and quite honestly then some...because not every step was accounted for.

I would like to point out that there is obviously more than one step behind this -1299- sign. I cry foul, Team China.

But of course, all good things must come to an end. And after walking down thirteen-hundred concrete steps,the days activities came to an end. 

 But not before one last parting shot with everyone who climbed the mountain! 

xoxo,

Jessica 

A Lesson in Culture Shock

I like to think I'm the kind of person who can adapt to situations fairly easily. 

Even in the land of China nothings really blown my mind and really freaked me out in the, "culture shock" sense. I didn't even lose it when I casually found out that most Chinese women don't shave their armpits but still wear tank tops to the gym (but that's a story for another time). 

Now that I've been here for two weeks I figured there was nothing major left to shock me. Yeah, I still expect a few, "whoa, that's different" moments but nothing that would truly make my jaw drop to the floor and make me yell OH MY FREAKING GOD WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THIS?!

Keep in mind that I started writing this post at 9:29pm on September 11th...do you know when I realized it was the September 11th? Sadly at approximately 9:20pm when my iPhone lit up to show me today's date.  

The last time I went through the eleventh day of September without a single care in the world was in 2000. Ever since then on this day I've done something in honor of those who had fallen on September 11, 2001. When I was younger it was something simple, wear a red, white, and blue shirt and have a moment of silence throughout the school. To much deeper ways of remembrance like singing the National Anthem a cappella in one class and talking about every detail everyone could remember from 2001 in most of the others, and joining in large group prayer sessions when I was in high school. 

What did I do today? I spoke Chinese, I took dictation, I ate at my favorite food stand on campus, and had time to take a nap. Until now, I did nothing based on the fact that it was 9/11.

Now that, I believe, is true culture shock. For over half of my life this day has been filled with remembrance, prayer, discussion; at the very least a few more American flag pins/shirts being worn in public than on the average day. 

And today, my first 9/11 out of the country - I was almost oblivious to it. 

It totally blows my mind that right now, in China billions of people had "just another day"; and right now in my home country billions of people are dealing with the fact that today is the day. 

It just makes me wonder...how many people in China realized the significance of today's date? How many people in American realize when it's the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre (It's June 4th btw)? I'm constantly reminded of what a small world it is - but today the world has never seemed so large. I feel like my hometown is in a different solar system. I think I know what culture shock feels like now. 

So America, while my the day is coming to a close, your's has only just begun. And to you I say, I love you. I will always keep you and your military men and women in my prayers. I miss you much and always wear a huge smile on my face whenever I get the chance to say 我是一个美国人 (I am an American).

One thing I love about Chinese is if you translate 美国 (America) literally is that it comes out as the beautiful （美）country （国）. 

 

Until next time -

xoxo,

Princess Jessica 

UPDATE!!

Goodness!!

I know it's taken a while for me to make a post - there were some issues with my VPN (the thing that lets me onto Facebook and Blog sites). 

So here's a quick recap of my first week (and a half) in Beijing China!! 

1. Finally made it to China. There was a little something called a TYPHOON that made flying a little difficult. 
2. Moved into my 中国家的公寓 (Chinese family's apartment) 
3. Went to 北京大学 (Beijing University) orientation 
4. Tried Peking Duck...okay so I actually passed on the duck. But I did go to an authentic Chinese restaurant and stuffed myself full with helping of every other dish on the table. 
5. Went to Tiananmen Square with my Swag Team 
6. Started a language pledge. 我和我的同学们从星期一到星期五没能说英语。That's right. Monday - Friday my classmates and I can only speak Chinese. Every time we speak in English we get 2% taken off our final grades 
7. Had my first day of school!! 7 in class hours a day, a total of at least 10 hours on campus. By the end of the day you can feel your brain twitching with all the power. 
8. Finally learned the true meaning of T.G.I.F...seriously. You go a whole week without having a real conversation in your native language and end the week with a 3 hour long test followed by 3 more hours of class. We celebrated by going to a fun little pizza bar and ordering fully legal - drinking age in Asia is 18 - drinks. I sprung for the $4(¥24) frozen margarita. 
9. Acquired a mean cold. So my family gave me some Chinese medicine. The absolute worst tasting thing I've ever experience in my life. It was a grainy black liquid "tea". But I tell you what, I woke up the next morning feeling like a million bucks...Never taking it again though. 
10. Had my first go a real Chinese street food! And it was delicious!! I have no idea what it was called or what was really in it. But I know it involved peppers, onion, a sauce, and what we decided were flat rice noodles. And by street food I mean I sat on a table in an alley as cars zoomed behing my back.