Week 5 - June 14-June 20

Hello everyone! Well after our Beijing trip we headed back to Xi’an only to rest for a few hours then get on another bus to head to An Kang. An Kang is a city in the southern part of Shaanxi province. This city is a little smaller than Xi’an is but while we were there it was as action packed as any other place I have been. First of all the bus ride there was a ride through the mountains of Shaanxi. These mountains reminded me of being in The Great Smoky Mountains. The mountains were a lush green color with high peaks and amazing beauty. One thing about the pollution here is within the urban areas like Beijing and Xi’an it is very thick but once you make your way outside those urban areas the skies are blue and gorgeous. The trip through the mountains was almost a surreal feeling not because I had never seen mountains but the people I was with. The trip was organized by Shaanxi Normal Universities’ International Office. So there were around 30 to 35 international students that were with us. People from all over the world, who speak numerous languages and all have a unique story to tell. I sat at the back of the bus and just so happened that there were some American students, Australian students, Kazistan students, and Brazilian students. The wonderful thing about having all these students together is that to be able to communicate with each other we all must speak Chinese. It is absolutely astonishing to have many different people together and all speak in a language that is not their native language in order to communicate. Anyways after we reached An Kang I was blown away by the river that the Dragonboat festival would be held on. It reminded me a lot of waterskiing at the Ten-Tom River in Alabama during the summer. It was a very wide river with rushing currents. Reaching the hotel we headed up to our rooms to unpack and then met for dinner. After having dinner a few of us decided to go out and explore the city a little. We walked the river banks and saw people swimming, singing, and dancing. It was truly an embrace of life and humanity. As we walked we had many people stop us to say hello and I say they said hello because that was the only English that they could speak, but it gave them a chance to have a picture with us and for us to practice our speaking skills. After seeing a little bit of the city we headed back to the hotel to sleep. The next day we awoke early to have breakfast then headed to the center of the city to prepare for a parade. The parade started at the center of the center went all way to the riverside where we got to see the opening ceremony for the festival. After the ceremony we went to a mountain and saw some more cultural treasures of China. It seems that no matter where you go here there are so many hidden treasures within each city. The mountain was home to some caves which ancients used for places of worship and in addition to these caves there had also been temples built there later. So after climbing the mountain and walking through many of these temples we headed back to river to get some training on how to power the boat. The boats contained 18 rowers, 1 drummer, and a lead man which helped to keep the pace of the paddlers. While paddling the boat every person had to be in sync with each other member of the team. Now the interesting thing about these boats is that they seemed to be only held together by a few nails. They were completely wooden and old. So after our training we headed back again to rest for the next day’s activities. The next day we had breakfast as usual then headed to the riverside and started the festival. We hopped in our boats and became part of a 24 boat parade that included fireworks and floats. The boat parade was absolutely wonderful to see but after the boat parade we experienced a tradition that was a little odd. Soon after the parade was over a ski boat approached and started throwing numerous ducks into the river and the men from the other boats would strip down to their underwear and jump in the river to try and catch the ducks. Not only did the members of the other boats catch ducks with their bare hands they also would catch fish also. Then after the activity was over the boats would all pass by the main stage and show their perspective catches of the day. The Dragonboat Festival was a piece of Chinese culture that I will never easily forget not only because it was so different but because I was able to experience with so many different people from so many different places in the world. Next week we return to Xi’an to see the historical treasures that are housed there. It is going to be very amazing. See you guys next time.

Week 4 - June 7-June 13

Hey everyone, sorry the blog has not been on time recently we have been so busy I have not been able to write much. This week we took a trip to Beijing to see the capitol of China. Beijing is the second largest city in the world behind Mexico City, Mexico. Beijing has an estimated population between 14 and 20 million people and let me tell you it is sprawling. First, I would like to tell you about how we got to Beijing. Our teacher 陈老师 (Mrs. Mei-Chi Chen Piletz) decided it would be a good idea for us to experience domestic travel in China by way of train. Now, Chinese trains are not like Amtrak in the states. On Amtrak you are given a room and you have a lot of privacy but on Chinese trains just like everywhere in China, privacy is a little different here. Basically you are given a bed inside a small room. Some of the rooms have 4 beds while some of the rooms have 6 beds. The beds are not soft and are not very big, so for someone of my size it is not easy to get comfortable. Now, outside the rooms are hallways that are kind of like a community area where people can sit and talk or eat and drink. The train ride was all in all around 13 hours long and so many people just try to sleep through the night and make the trip that much easier. I on the other hand could not sleep very well so I thought it to be a wonderful time to practice my speaking skills with some of China’s people. I met some very nice people on the train, some business people, some students, and some people just taking a vacation or holiday. I met a very nice gentleman who was on his way home to be with his wife because she was about to have their first child. This was wonderful to talk to him about but it made me miss Kaci that much more. I also met a girl returning to Beijing from visiting her parents and like me she did not sleep very well on trains so, she decided that meeting a native English speaker would be a good chance to practice her English which I didn’t mind since I was trying to practice my Chinese. After arriving in Beijing we stepped off the train to be met by teachers and classmates. After leaving the train station we headed to the hotel that we would be staying at which was a hotel for international students studying abroad. After arriving at our hotel we had a short rest then headed off to see some historical sites in Beijing. First we went to Tiananmen Square which is actually the center of Beijing and the biggest square in the world. We stood at the gates of the Forbidden City and took so many pictures. The main reason we took so many pictures is that random people stop you and ask to take pictures with you simply because you are a foreigner. After walking around the square for awhile some students decided to go back to the hotel while the rest of us decided to go to a park where we could see a historic area of Beijing that many foreigners love to go to play hackie sack and enjoy the local nightlife. After enjoying some local treats and beverages we decided to go back to the hotel to get some sleep because of the things that we had planned for the next couple of days. The next day we awoke and went off on our way to the Great Wall. Now, until then I had only seen pictures of this but let me tell you that nothing compares to actually walking up the stairs of this ancient wall. Now of course the Great Wall is a huge tourist attraction from people all over the world but as you stand on the steps you really can feel what it must have been like to walk these steps in the ancient world. You can still feel the presence of the many men who had fought and died on these mountains defending their territories and homeland. It is absolutely breathtaking and no words could ever describe it. It was beyond belief.

After our day at the Great Wall we went back to the hotel for a rest but I felt that this was a good time for me to get out and explore a little of Beijing without the presence of the group. So I gathered my things and headed off to Olympic Park which was not too far from my hotel. Arriving there I met up with a friend who studies in Beijing and she gave me the basic tour. I got to see the Bird’s Nest which is the stadium that many of the 2008 Olympic Games took place and I also got to see the building where Michael Phelps made his historic medal run.

After touring the park and talking with some of the locals we grabbed a bite to eat and headed back to our rooms. The next day we awoke and went to the Summer Palace which was an actual Palace for the Emperor and his court in earlier days. This palace was remarkable and beautiful. The size and architecture of the buildings within the Palace gates were absolutely amazing. Here we found many local people enjoying the day by singing, dancing, and even practicing calligraphy. Beijing was a very interesting place. It is an extremely modern city with the fast pace lifestyle of a city its size, but there were also some interesting parts of Beijing that seem really relaxing and slow. It has a wonderful mix of people and styles. Next week we will be going to An Kang for the Dragonboat Festival which is a nationally celebrated holiday within China. I hope everyone is well and keep watching for my next post.

First Round of China Pics

From Kaci -- Some pics of things he's been talking about in the blog...

This is my favorite pic of what he's sent to me! It's from the entrance to one of the parks he's visited. Maybe Qujiang Park from his Week 2 blog, but I'm not entirely sure.




The Drum Tower in Xian from Week 2




I don't think he's written about this one, and I'm not even going to attempt to pronounce or spell it correctly!







Enjoy!!

Week 3 - May 31-June 6

Hey guys! This week I wanted to talk a little about the food here and how we are adjusting to it, but I also want to talk about the adventurous eating I have found myself taking part in. First of all, the food is different than what I pictured. Because of the Chinese restaurants at home I had an idea that maybe the food would not be so good. I have also heard that it takes the western stomach a lot of time to adjust to the cooking style and all the spices that is used in other countries but for me I have eaten everything without fear and so far I have been rewarded with a happy stomach. Now food is served different here and eating styles are also very different. First and foremost are the chopsticks. The chopsticks will make you or break you and it seemed the first time we sat down for a meal that not one of us was very proficient with them but the native eater seems to have some problems with it as well so now I don’t fell like such a klutz at the table. Another huge difference is the way that food is served. Now if you are simply eating by yourself, of course you have your own food and you will not be sharing with anyone, but if you have a group of friends the food is served family style much like eating Sunday dinner at my grandmothers' homes as a child or even now for holidays. Everyone eats from all the dishes. Another thing that is a little strange to the western way of thinking is that you are not given napkins at your meal. Most Chinese people know to bring their own. Now for the best part the dishes and the taste. Chinese food and I mean food that Chinese people actually eat is simply prepared. Most people ask for a bowl of rice with their meal because rice is a very simple source of nutrition. When a population is as big as China’s there has to be a simple and cheap way to feed everyone. The dishes are usually always served with a huge amount of vegetables within each dish. Peppers and cabbage are widely used for dishes. The dishes are usually made up of beef, pork, chicken, or lamb. Lamb is not as widely used in the states but you have local spots that really know how lamb should be cooked. Out here lamb is used more than any other meat except pork. Another difference is that China is a tea culture so usually green or black tea is served with every meal much like the complementary glass of water that is given in most western restaurants. Ok, enough about tradition let’s get into what Chinese cuisine is really like. Street food is king here. No matter where you go in the city there are local vendors at every corner serving up tasty treats to the masses. I guess I have watched too many food shows on the travel channel because I search out for the strangest things that I can find and boy did I find it. Our first step off of campus and on to the streets of Xi’an your nasal cavity is bombarded with the smell of stinky tofu. If I could describe the smell to you the closet thing I could compare it with is the smell of rotten plant matter mix with sweaty feet. I know that it does not sound appetizing at all but once I tried it I was completely hooked. Now every time I smell this horrible smell I go in search for the vender. It is horribly wonderful; this is the only words I can use for it. Many Chinese people find the slightly fermented taste to be extremely appetizing. Although this type of taste is one that we do not have at home I really enjoy it. My next culinary adventures also took place on the street by eating skewered pieces of meat cook in a mysterious liquid filled with spices that make one’s mind more interested in eating what is cooked in there. But it is not for the faint of heart because most of the meats that are cooked within this are parts that Americans usually don’t eat such as beef lung, eye balls, pig toes, and other such body parts. If you have never tried intestinal organs of animals you probably will gag at the smell due to the freshness of the meat, but if you are an intestine lover these are the carts for you. I have tried everything possible and I have yet to get sick but they say there are some absolutes here and one is if you are foreign you will either throw up a lot or have diarrhea before your journey ends but luckily I am still in the clear. Other than street foods there are some styles of food that are cultural treasures here in China and one is called Chinese hotpot. Chinese hotpot is a style of eating that I have never seen before coming here. It is like fondue except you are cooking raw meat and vegetables. The pot or hotpot is brought to the table usually it is split into two sections one for the spice lovers such as myself and the other for the non-spice lover. Usually the meat, which is generally lamb, is sliced super thin so it cooks fast is brought out first and then the veggies follow, but there is a definite procedure to cooking the meat. First you must wait until the soup inside the pot is boiling then the meat is dropped in. After the meat is dropped in the soup will calm but the key is to wait until the soup boils the second time and then the met is ready for you to eat. This style of eating is not only a way to enjoy good food but also a way to enjoy good friends and conversation. Most importantly you do not want to over fill the containers with too many items because then it takes a long time to cook and you risk getting sick from eating semi raw meat. Moreover, hotpot is really a chance to get to know or enjoy engaging conversation. A big difference in the way many American restaurants atmosphere is and the atmosphere that Chinese restaurants have is that usually in American restaurants people generally talk very quiet among their perspective group, but here it is very common to be loud and enjoy yourself and enjoy your company while sometimes even engaging strangers. Food culture is amazing here it seems every city has local treats and rare foods that I have never even heard of. Everything I have eaten has been wonderful. The other students in our group laugh at me for trying all these strange foods but I tell them I have a cast iron stomach and can eat just about anything. Next week we are heading to Beijing to see the sights there so stay tuned for the next episode.


From Kaci -- Here are a couple of food pics he sent. I believe he told me there were meatballs in the middle of these rice balls.



Notice the family style dining he mentioned...

Week 2 -- May 24 - 30

Hey guys and girls, I hope that you had as good of a week as I have had. Let me start off by telling you a little about what I am doing in my classes. We attend classes in the morning and the afternoon. Our morning classes are strictly Chinese language classes. They are split up into three different sections; first we have oral Chinese, second we have intensive Chinese reading, and last we have listening. We alternate these classes each day so each day we are studying a different part of the language. Our oral class focuses on proper pronunciation of the tones. Chinese is a tonal language, there are four tones within the language and even though some of the words sound the same you must make sure that you give the proper pronunciation to that particular word or you could say something that does not make any sense to the native speaker. Our second class is intensive reading and it is very intensive. Reading the characters is the hardest part to the language for me simply because there are so many characters. To be literate a person must only be able to read about 3000 characters but there are many more that 3000 characters within the language, there are more than 50,000 characters within written Chinese. Our last class is listening, we listen to conversations or make conversations of our own and try to follow and make sense of each one. The most challenging part of these classes is that they are taught completely in Chinese so there is very little English spoken while we are in class. Also, there are more than 13 dialects of Chinese spoken throughout the country but if you can read and write Chinese you can communicate in all the dialects. Therefore just by learning the characters you can communicate in 13 different languages at once, this is unlike any other language on the planet. Although it is very difficult at this point I believe this will pay off for me and my classmates. To quote a very good friend, “The only place you will find success before work is in the dictionary.” Now our afternoon classes are culture classes so this means we learn about a particular aspect of Chinese culture. We will be studying Chinese handcrafting, Chinese tai-chi, calligraphy, Chinese songs, and traditional Chinese painting. All of these cultural aspects are taken very seriously here and our teachers for these subjects are masters of their respective subject. Now, this past week my classmates and I have simply tried to get adjusted to our classes and learn how to live here as foreigners. The biggest obstacle that we have face is ordering food. Ordering food seems simple enough but it is not at all simple when the menus are completely in Chinese but luckily enough many of the local restaurants have pictures for the menu so the language barrier is not all that difficult. So in order to eat easily every day we had student ID cards made for us and we can put money on our cards to eat in the student dining hall Also, we have students that attend here that are completely awesome and don’t mind taking us out and ordering food for us. My week started off really slow, just going to class, grabbing a bite to eat, and emerging myself in my studies. I was asked to play basketball by one of my friends here and so I went and played. Now, in the US basketball is played very different than it is here. We play more aggressive than the guys that play here and there is a huge difference in the plays that are run. In the US we tend to move a little more to the outside but here once the ball is passed in the game is pretty much played in the paint. It took me awhile to get used to it. Also, I have been going out and exploring the campus that we are on and the city. I with my classmates have become campus celebrities. Our pictures were place up on a billboard beside the basket ball courts and now it is hard to go anywhere without being stopped but I don’t mind that at all. This gives me a chance to use the language more and more. But, when students here find out that we speak English they only want to communicate with us through English. This has something to do with the history of China. Before the 1980s China was a closed country, whenever China opened its borders to more and more foreigners the people here became more aware of becoming a global citizen. Furthermore, this began a huge call the learn English in China because English was considered to be the language of the world. Now, although our week was mostly classes we were able to experience some activities here on campus. The coolest thing we have done is to attend a school performance. This is kind of like a program where student clubs showcase their skills in a particular area, but it is also about tradition and the history of China. It started off with some of the students showcasing their skills in hip-hop dance. This was absolutely wonderful because the students were really good at dancing. Also, Chinese songs were showcased and acting. The history part came by way of women wearing traditional dress which would have been worn in the Week, Qin, and Tang dynasty which for Xi’an was the capitol of. After the program some of the students wanted to take pictures with us and simply socialize with us. Later, when the weekend came some of the students wanted to take us out to a local park. The name of the park is Qujiang park. It is different from what I would think of as a park. Usually in my mind a park is a place where sports are played but here it is a place where people can gather to enjoy the flora and fauna of china. The park was absolutely massive. At the entrance there was a small amusement park that had rides, games, and food. This reminded me of a carnival of some sort back home but it was not quite the same. Inside the park there were at least 2 large lakes which all had walking trails around and also was the home of some ancient artifacts and museums. The coolest thing about this is that it was absolutely free. So we spent the day walking, talking, and taking many pictures. The architecture of the buildings here are absolutely amazing and enchanting. It seems everywhere you look there are sights that at least I have never seen, I had only read about or seen in movies. After spending all day in the park, and by the way we were only able to see half of it due to its size we stopped at a local restaurant that served barbecue. The barbecue is different here as well as just about everything else. The meat is skewered on metal skewers and cooked over open flame. There were a lot of different kinds of meats including some familiar favorites of mine, chicken wings. After eating and drinking for awhile we were back off to campus. After a rest we later went to the airport to pick up a friend who was coming from Beijing to meet up with some girls that she studied with in America. The girls which I had met at Jackson State had been living and studying with each other for a year in America. This is where I met them. The girl we picked-up from the airport name is Zhang Shi Ling张诗玲. Shi ling and I became friends by accident. When I started to study Chinese at Jackson State I was assigned a language partner and his name was Xucheng, but Xucheng really cared nothing for helping me learn Chinese mainly because his English was very broken so he enlisted the help of his friend Shi Ling. So when I called Xucheng to meet up with me to study he would call Shi Ling and tell her to meet me instead of him. But, luckily enough Shi Ling was very helpful and we learned a lot from each other. I learned Chinese from her and she learned English/Southern English from me. Anyways, after picking her up we went back to the hotel and called it a night. The next day we went around the city sightseeing. We saw the drum tower which is another piece of Xi’an history. The Drum Tower in Xian was initially built in 1380 during the reign of Emperor Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), and was renovated twice in 1699 and 1740 in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). It is a two-storied post and panel structure, 112 feet high and 172 feet long from east to west as well as 124 feet wide from north to south. The architecture style of the Drum Tower is a combination of the styles of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and the Qing Dynasty. However, the Drum Tower also has some innovative features. For example, it should be mentioned that there is no iron nail used anywhere in the Drum Tower. The structure of the building is absolutely amazing and beautiful. Arriving at the Drum Tower there is an arched doorway in the centre of the south and north walls, doorway being 20 feet in both height and width. Visitors can go upstairs to the second floor, and enjoy the views around the Drum Tower. Meanwhile, you will notice that there are twenty-four drums in the north and south sides of the Drum Tower. These drums stand for the Twenty-four Solar Terms which is a kind of weather calendar created by the Chinese ancients in order to guide the agricultural production. In modern times, the Drum Tower is not used as a timer any more, but in 1996 a new drum, covered by a whole piece of cowhide was given a place on the Drum Tower. It is the biggest drum in China at the present time. Also we enjoyed a musical performance in the Drum Tower. These performances gave me some insight to the power of ancient Chinese culture. Well that is about all for this week. I will keep you guys updated farther next week.

Week 1 -- May 18 - 23

Hey everyone! I finally made it here to Xi’an 西安this morning at 9:30 and let me tell you it has already been one interesting trip. For starters, after I kissed Kaci goodbye at the Jackson-Evers International Airport on Tuesday morning I stepped onto the first plane on my journey to the middle kingdom中国 (China). After a short flight to Detroit, Corey, another student here in Xi’an with our group, and I had about a six and a half hour lay-over in Detroit International Airport. The next plane we boarded was a huge Boeing 747 jumbo jet which looks more like a building than a plane. Since this was only the second time I had ever flown I was completely blown away by the mere size of this thing, I mean how does something that big manage to stay in the air for that long? Anyways, after boarding this monster we were off to Japan, and by the way, no matter how many times a person has flown, I don’t believe anyone can ever get used to 12 hours on a plane. Landing in Tokyo, Japan at Narita International Airport I began to experience a feeling of exhilaration and excitement because I knew that I was only mere hours from Beijing 北京. As Corey and I began to wonder through Narita Airport we finally ran into some other members of our group. Following our regrouping we got ready to get on the plane to take us to Beijing北京. Now, some people I talked to and some people I saw on the planes could have slept through the plane crashing but for me being on a plane for so many hours I was never really asleep and also never really awake. I know that sounds very weird, but trust me sleeping on a plane is no easy task for me. So by the time we stepped on the plane to Beijing北京, I had been awake for around 24 hours straight. Landing in Beijing 北京 I was mesmerized by the lights that I could see out the window of the plane, these lights seemed to go on for miles and miles. As we got ready to go through customs I finally realized that I was 8,000 miles away from my home, this is a feeling of excitement but also a feeling of fear. Walking through the airport I told some of the other guys in the group that as we walked through the airport it seemed that every eye was on us and we stick out like a sore thumb. Now, back home in the states when someone who is of a different color or nationality we do tend look at them in wonder but also in the states we are all used to people of many different colors and creeds. But here everyone is Asian and we are the foreigners and no matter how hard we try we cannot just blend in. It is a total flip on the norm for me a least, but interesting to experience all the same. Finishing our time in the customs office, we quickly grabbed our bags and were off to catch a bus to the next terminal. This style of riding buses made me think of Disneyworld in Orlando, because if you stay on Disney property you catch a bus everywhere almost. But in another aspect it is nothing like Disney at all, for one the traffic is all or nothing, and what I mean by that is if you linger in the street too long you will get HIT! After reaching terminal 3 in Beijing Airport we decided to contact some people that we would meet up with that night. Now keep in mind we had been flying since May 18th at 6am until May 19th 10:30pm. So, by the time we reach the terminal and get all our calls out of the way and meet up with our friends it is May 20th 1am. As we started looking for a place to sit, talk, and eat we came across something very familiar, McDonalds. At that instant I thought to myself “I did not fly 8,000 miles to eat at McDonalds” but at 1am in the morning you take what is given to you. After spending the entire night in the airport, which seemed deserted, we began to make our way to our final flight which would take us to Xi’an 西安. Now, although through the night it seemed we were the only ones in the airport, when 5:30 am arrived there was a rush of people that seemed to come from nowhere. Mississippi has roughly 3 million people, so even when it is at its most crowded it fails to compare to the absolutely massive amount of people within the city of Beijing 北京. Everywhere you turn there are huge amounts of people walking, talking, and eating! Stepping off our last flight I felt a very strange feeling, I was so tired I could barely stand. Although I was completely exhausted I was wide awake and little did I realize that our trip was about to become even more exhilarating. The university sent a van to pick us up and transport us to the airport which seems relatively simple, but in a city of around 8 million people you cannot imagine how the traffic is. Although the traffic moves very quickly, it is the style of driving that is crazy. Driving in China is “no holds barred.” There are a huge amount of motorcycles and scooters, along with cars, trucks, and every other form of transportation imaginable. Riding in the van to the university I had my first taste of what China looks like and the very different smells that China has. The smells are interesting to say the least, I think the main reason that it smells so different than Mississippi is that the pollution is a=much worse than in the States. As we arrived at the University we unloaded the van at the campus hotel and headed to out rooms to get settled. After refreshing for a bit we had a dinner with some students from Shaanxi Normal University. This was my first taste of china and let me tell you that the food here is so wonderful. Everything that I ate was very light and healthy. Now I know what you are thinking, is the food in China like the Chinese food in America. And the answer is no, not even close. What we have in the States fails to compare to anything I have eaten so far. The food is served family style. It reminded me of being at my grandmother’s home as a child and eating Sunday afternoon dinner. We sat down and I noticed that there was a lazy Suzan type rotating table on top of the table. The waitresses brought the food out and sat it on this circular rotating surface and then we began to eat. Now in Chinese tradition the oldest person at the table begins the meal. This is a show of respect to the older generations. No one at the table would pick up their chopsticks until the elder had beagn to eat. Also, the meal is not just eating, it is a time of fellowship and conversation so people will eat a bit and then sit and talk. Furthermore, it is customary to give a toast or many toasts. After we toasted to the exchange program we ate. Feeling very full we returned to the room for a break and a few hours later took a tour of the school. The school here has a very large campus with many tall buildings. You also see a large amount of senior citizens here on campus due to the fact that if a teacher retires from a school they then move to that school and live out the remainder of their life. So the school is a school and a retirement community. Now I decided I would get out and explore so I walked a little more and found a local market that is like a small grocery store and fresh market altogether. After our first day I returned to the dorm to sleep, which was the first time I had slept in almost 36 hours. The next morning we got up and gathered for our first class, after the class we ventured outside the campus and into the local city streets to see what it would be like and it was a little overwhelming. Lined down the streets are taxis, scooters, people, shops, food stands, and just about anything else you can think of. We caught lunch at a local spot that was family owned and operated, it had very delicious food or in Chinese we would say 好吃, which is literally good eat or hao chi. After lunch we returned to our class where we practice the traditional Chinese act of paper-cutting. The way our classes are set up is that we have language classes in the mornings and cultural classes in the afternoon. Later that night we gathered with more University students and ate western style food served Chinese style. It was the closest thing I have had yet to American Chinese food. I left the meal early because I was dead tired from the jet lag. The next morning I awoke refreshed. The students here had organized and dumpling party for us. We were to hand make the dumplings and then cook and eat them. The dumplings were wonderful but the really cool thing is that there were about one hundred students waiting on us and everyone wanted to talk us and take pictures with them. I felt like I took more pictures that day than my wedding day, and if anyone reading this was involved in mine and Kaci’s wedding you know that is a lot of pictures. After leaving the dumpling party some students wanted to take us to KTV. KTV is kind of like karaoke but a lot better. You are given you own room depending on the size of your party; you can order food or drink and spend the night if you want. After leaving KTV we headed back to the hotel for sleep. The next morning we decided to go to church, now church in China is a little different than in the States. The church has to be overseen by the government in order for it to operate but the service was almost no different than a church service in my church at home. After church one of the students who has lived in Xi’an his entire life took us on a trip to sightsee around the city. It is a very strange mix of history and modernization here in China. On one hand you can see some building that are six hundred years old and then right next to it see a skyscraper with a one hundred foot LCD screen. The city is absolutely beautiful at night so we killed time by seeing a movie and fortunately enough the movie had English subtitles because my Chinese is not good enough to understand everything within the movie but I was able to understand a lot more than I thought I would. Leaving the theater we headed to a local restaurant and ate. My first week here in China I must admit is very intoxicating and enchanting, the people friendly and forgiving to foreigners. I am adjusting to the culture and surroundings better than I thought I would and can’t wait for the next week to begin and our classes to really get in motion.