Friday, July 18

So after I got home, I didn't sleep. I showered to get rid of all the smoke and started packing while youtubing. And at 5, we all herded out to the east gate and waited for our bus to Inner Mongolia. Then it was sleeping time. 

After sleeping uncomfortably for most of the ride and watching a movie on my friend's little electronic device (I really don't know what to call it), we arrived in the grasslands of Mongolia. Mongolia has some pretty scenery, just picture dirt + green + mountains (green and brown). The sky was beautiful as well. After a month of Beijing skies, it was a nice change.

Then we arrived at our camp and I got one look at our living conditions (tent-like things) and started to get this sinking feeling in my stomach. Then I looked at our bathroom (smell: unbearable, stalls: nonexistent, conditions: mosquitoes, brown, and just bad all around) and started to regret coming to Mongolia. This emotion was supported by the wrong time of month to go and I had cramps the whole day and night. Then they fed us vegetables for lunch and herded us to where the horses were.

The horses were sooooo adorable but i also felt pity for them. All of them had scars on them in the shape of numbers, shapes, characters, etc. I guess to identify them, and most of them grouped into couples (which was really cute because they laid their heads on each other). My horse had a girlfriend who followed his every move. Too cute. So my friend was following my back the whole time, sometimes her horse's head would nudge my leg and stuff. But after 45 minutes or so of riding, the butt pain started to increase in substantially bigger increments and around this time this other horse who got out of control ran into my horse after it's rider fell off of it. I almost fell off but was able to balance myself just in time. My horse was really mad after that but I comforted it (at least I think I did) and then it started walking back to the girl that fell off her horse because I think it was worried. My horse and my horse's girlfriend were the only ones to stay behind and see what happened to her. Apparently she hit her head because she was bleeding and I think this other horse tried to jump over her earlier and so she was hunched over on the ground holding her head. I think they were calling the hospital. Then our horses joined the rest of the horses and our group stopped for a rest. While we were taking pictures and enjoying the scenery, these Mongol women were trying to sell us these cute baby lambs for like 5 kuai. It was actually sad, they were pulling these lambs on leashes made of rope. 

By this time we rode the horses for an hour and a half and I was only planning to ride them only for an hour because I didn't bring that much money, but there was a slight problem: I had to go back to camp and the only way to do that was ride the horse again (the other option was of course walking through horse poop). But I think the people there planned it out so that we HAD to ride the horses for like 4-5 hours - basically trying to rip us off.  And it worked. After arguing with them for a while, we told them we all just wanted to go back NOW, but even then, we took the long route back and ended up riding the horses for 3 hours. 150 kuai (after bargaining because for some reason they suddenly wanted 60 kuai per hour after telling us it was 50 kuai/hr). That was 3/4 of my money gone. The day started to look a lot dimmer with a lighter wallet and I had a feeling it was keep going to be like this. And I was right.

80 kuai for lamb meat. I didn't pay, but there were some who did and I KNOW they regret it. After watching some people rolling around in the dirt (part of our tour called - Mongolian wrestling, or something like that; I left after 5 minutes) we had dinner. More vegetables. Then they brought out the lamb. It was just a whole lamb roasted. And I mean the whole lamb. Then they had this celebration/ceremony (lots of cheering and music and of course, alcohol) and cut it up. I didn't watch. They basically gave every table some lamb, so even the people who didn't pay got to eat some. I didn't eat it. One table got it's head on a plate and got to see it while eating the rest of it. Many people told me it didn't even taste all that great (our tour guide told us it was like the best dish in the world). 

The rest of the night is not worth mentioning but i'll tell you that none of us showered, few of us brushed our teeth and washed our faces in ice cold water (I was one of them), and all slept among the mosquitoes within our tent/hut shelters.

D-DAY

Thursday, July 17

8:00 am. The semester final. 

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I think everybody else thought so as well.

After that, my roommate and I went to the zoo area where all the locals go to shop. There are ~4 or 5 huge markets where all the prices are super cheap. It was our little heaven. Mostly ladies fashion, the crowds and the clothes were overwhelming. But the vendors didn't pressure you, and you mostly didn't have to bargain. It takes a while to go through the sea of clothes to find something to your taste, but this in itself was fun. It was too bad the markets closed early (4:30), we still had many places that we didn't even to get a peek at. So we're definitely going to go back.

After shopping, after a short trip to Houhai, I went out to Chaoyang to Bellagio's with friends. At Bellagio's, we had some good (but expensive) dessert, and then went to check out the clubs on the same block. Basically, Bellagio's is on the end of a whole block of clubs lined up right next to each other. So starting from the left, there was Babyface, where we just didn't "feel" it, and then we kept on moving left until we finally found a place we liked: Angel. Since it was Thursday, entrance was all free~!!! At Angel, we had a fun time. The girls got some drinks and talked to the waiters and bartender and got some free water. =) This one waiter was really nice to us and he asked for our number later. Lol. We decided we're definitely going to go back there. 

After dancing some more, we finally left and got back home around 3.

Wednesday, July 16

Wow, it's already mid-July. I need to start blue-booking. Oh the horror. But first things first, the written final tomorrow. Oh my gosh. 

So, today for my oral exam, I just happened to have one of the strictest teachers here. Just my luck. I don't think it went so well. After stuttering and mumbling for 50 minutes, it was finally over and I don't really want to talk about it. Even to you, my blog.

So just more studying today. I went to a cafe pretty far from campus and studied with ice cream, then moved to a Japanese restaurant and studied some more with tofu beef hot pot and chicken skewers, and then to McDonalds where I, yes, you guessed it (you are soooo smart!), studied some more this time with a chocolate sundae. So today was an eating + studying day. I think I consumed more calories today then the rest of the month put together (not really). I guess I really am stressed.

So that was my day. Oh, I forgot to mention, that after classes, we took PiB class pictures. 

Ok now that's really it.

Wish me luck~!!

................................Good luck!! 

Study Study Study~

Haohaor xuexi~ tiantian xiangshang! 

I wish....Tomorrow's the oral exam and I have to study. Review grammar, remember all the words I memorized (like 1000 + and i'm not kidding), and practice speaking. I can't believe it's already finals!! After finals, Inner Mongolia~ here I come!!

You better have some non-smelly nice camels ready for me!!

...Soooo, back to studying. It just never ends does it. My future looks bleak...

Rain Rain go away~

Monday, July 14

Rain sucks. Especially in Beijing. Just thought I'd comment on the weather.

I studied in a cafe, ate ice cream there (expensive, though I could tell it was finer quality!), ate sushi for dinner, went back to my dorm, and youtubed (youtubing is starting to overwhelm my blog. not good...). I think the highlight of my day/night was our second mosquito killing spree/party. Last night we also had one and killed like 50 of them. I'm not joking. I'd thought our shoes slammed against the walls (in order to squash those vicious bloodsucking monsters) would wake up the whole dorm in the middle of the night. Since we didn't hear anyone complaining, we decided to make a ritual of it and did it again tonight. Though fewer than last night, there was still a fair share of them. Thus our white walls are splattered with remnants of the things including blood, guts, the whole enchilada. Some of them are just squooshed, some streaked across, it's actually quite horrid to look like. But we figured if we just left them, the other mosquitoes would think the same thing and stay out of our room. Well, if they are smart and donn't want to end up like their brethren, they should.

Sunday, July 13

Back still aches. Zao-gao!

Didn't really do much today, just stayed in my bed, ate pastries, and youtubed. Reason: 1. back disabled me.  2. i'm sick.

But on the other hand, I feel like I was still connected with the outside Chinese world through the marvel that is called Youtube by watching a popular hit Taiwanese drama. I was surprised that I could make out sometimes what they were saying, and it wasn't just from the subtitles either. It's English title was translated into 'Romantic Princess' and the plot is very corny and make believe, but how these kinds of cheesy dramas feed our fantasies~~ 

Then, it was time to do homework. Oh how I love writing essays.

It's really hard to express sarcasm using a keyboard....

Saturday, July 12

Sleeping in is heavenly. I didn't go to the Yinshan Pagoda excursion trip. Instead I bummed around in my bed. My idea of a fun time (sometimes). 

Went with some friends to have lunch at this place on the west side of campus. It was ok....

At night, though my back was killing me (I don't know if the massage is supposed to have this kind of effect....) and I was getting sick, I went to Houhai where we just walked around and went to this peculiar bar. Walked around some more, had ice cream, thought about going to Sanlitunr, but called it a night. Thoughts on Houhai: very pretty, a good place (in my opinion) to go on a date <- there are boat rides, places to shop, restaurants with nice view of the lake, etc.., and a place I want to go back to to shop. 

Oh my back hurts......

Friday, July 11

FIIIIIINNNNNAAAAALLLLLYYYYYY~~~~!!!!!!

It's Friday. After the dreaded test which I don't really want to talk about, it was time to put our "girl's night out" plan into action. At Wudaokou, we shopped a little, bought some really good pastries that were exactly like the ones in Korea (to die for), got a back massage (hour long and for 148 kuai~ dunno if its cheap or not...), other friend got a pedicure, went to eat Korean bbq, went to Tous Les Jous (pastry cafe) and had fruit bingsoo (ingredients: assorted fruits, ice cream, ice shavings, red beans) and free slice of cake! Then went to Propaganda, a small club which was apparently going to be closing that weekend, and danced a while to burn off the thousands of calories we consumed earlier that day and left. My thoughts on Propaganda: ehhh.....well I can say I don't regret it closing.

=)

Thursday, July 10

Today was a relatively good day. Though I didn't get to memorize my presentation, it didn't go all that bad and I was pretty energized during class for a change. The teacher actually asked me questions. Yup, today was a pretty good day~

After youtubing a little and sleeping a 4 hour nap, study study study. But studying for 2 and a half hours got me tired and I soon went to sleep deciding to wake up super early the next morning. Like 4. Yea, I'll do that.

Wednesday, July 9

I did my laundry today. This may be a monumental event in the history of Ashley's short life. At the risk of sounding like a spoiled princess, I must admit to never doing my laundry at home, I had laundry service at school, thus this was my first time doing laundry. Sort of. The fuwuyuan helped me, but it still counts! After procrastinating up to the last minute, I figured if I delayed any longer my clothes will start to rot. Today was also the day I learned that it is a common phenomenon in the laundry room for people to take other people's clothes out of the machines and push them aside. I never knew before of how people could dare get their hands on other people's underwear, bras, etc. But today, I had my clothes taken out by who knows who not only from the washing machine, but also out of the drying machine before my clothes were even dry! This was somewhat infuriating. So bothered I was by this, I decided to make an excuse out of this and go to sleep instead of memorizing my presentation for the next morning. Hee.

Tuesday, July 8

Yesterday I had Chinese table again. Yayyyy~~~ I think Tuesdays and Thursdays are becoming my favorite days of the week bc i get to eat good food for free during lunchtime. And since I decided to not eat dinners from now on (for multiple good, or at least I think that are good, reasons), I am free to indulge in my lunch meals. But we went to Yumadun (pretty fancy place right on campus-ish) and all the dishes were spicy except the veggie ones =( . 

The highlights of my day yesterday were sleeping a good nap, procrastinating my laundry (i was soooo close to actually doing it this time but when i went to the laundry machines they were all full and then i realized i didn't have any laundry soap thingie...) and emailing my friends all frenziedly.

OKie that's about it.

monday, July 7

Today I was late for class and missed my little quiz thingie. =( The teacher was pretty strict about it. She spoke super fast and I was only like 3 minutes late. 

Bummer. Oh well..........

Ate Japanese food after. Yummy~~ but the food took forever though. 

Afterward, drama, boredom, and ice cream. Oh yea, and homework.

Is this too short for an entry? I don't really have much to say =/

Sunday, July 6

I got home around 4 in the morn and somehow I ended up sleeping til 6 pm the next day. So my Sunday was basically in dream land. Except I don't remember any dreams. I got up, watched Youtube, forgot but then realized I had an essay due the next morning, talked with my roommate, did my essay (precisely in that order). Then 5 hours after I woke up, I went to sleep again. 

Saturday, July 5

Time to play muahahahaha. Early Sat morning, I took the bus to XinHuaBaiHuo, like 5 minutes away to meet my Yale friend who lives near the 5th ring in Beijing. We went shopping, ate Baskin Robbins (not as good as the US version) ate like 5 sticks of meat that was spicy (my friend kept saying that this was the food Chinese ppl miss the most when they're abroad) and greasy but good, ate more ice cream (a chocolate sundae in which the chocolate syrup tasted fake), ate a chocolate pastry, shopped more, and talked talked talked. Hee. Was fun. 

Later at night, with group went to club Banana. Only 20 kuai = very cheap but still not worth going again I think. Though it was fun in the beginning, it got disgusting super fast. The dance floor didn't really move like I thought it would. It was just bouncy. It was super crowded and nobody really danced. Half (or maybe even more than half) of the men there were old (like 40s/50s), this fact seriously pissed me off. Why are they not going home to their children and wives and going to a club where they stand near young girls and just stare at them and try to touch them. Seriously it was gross. Then I got pushed vehemently on the head by this security guy who was trying to make way for this performer on their way to a stage. The performer wasn't even famous. Then there were these two caucasian guys, half naked, dancing really inappropriately. This somehow got some Chinese men riled up. Ew ew ew. I won't even go to the details because it would be defiling my blog. Also, I met someone there that I really didn't want to see. Overall, besides having fun with my friends, there was nothing really else great to say about the place. 

But after, me and two of my gal friends took a long taxi ride to Wudaokou to eat some really good food. That made it all worth it. Hee

Note to self: Banana never again.

Friday, July 4

FRRRRIIIIIIDDDAAAAYYYYYY~~~!!!!

Test time wooohooo~! It went horribly.

Enough said.

Next~! After going to the supermarket and piling up on my junk food in order to plan my diet accordingly in the worst possible way, I returned to my dorm and then went to see the Beijing Opera. It was interesting in a sleepy sort of way. After the opera, everybody did impressions. Ha. Then it got boring, well, for me at least.

Then friends and I went to Wudaokou where we went to jiuba and KTV aka NRB (noraebang - for those not Korean who read my blog if anyone actually reads my blog, nrb = ktv but funner to say). We had yummy food. Considering the rain, it was unexpectedly a good time though it took literally half an hour to grab a taxi.

Thursday, July 3

I feel as if all my thursdays are going to be about how i have the weekly test the next day. But since that would be rather dry, I'll also talk about the other insignificant parts of my day. One, presenting my essay. There was only one person other than the teacher (Wang laoshi, the one I fear the most, I think it's because she's the oldest...) and he presented first. I had no clue I had to pay attention to what he was saying while he presented, thus come discussion time, Wang laoshi asked me, "So Ashley, do you have any questions for Sean?" And I was like, "Um..no." She gave me this flabbergasted look and was like, "But you need to have questions for him." and I returned hers with my very own gaboozled look, "What? Really?"

Yea.

After classes, I procrastinated until the very last minute who knows doing what. I think I started studying around 9 pm.

Not good. Especially since I planned on studying starting from 4. At least that's what my Apple calendar says. 

Free Sushi and a Movie~

A journalist (?) from a Korean newspaper came today. I randomly invited myself to his lunch group and with much ado, I landed my self at his table. It was a nice quiet silent lunch where I enjoyed myself to the same sushi I had the night before and some Japanese noodles, aka udon. Not so delicious the second time around. 

The check came and immediately the reporter took out his thick wallet and insisted he pay. We replied with our "oh no"s and "you musn't"s, though I realized none had reached for their wallets. The food that sat in my intestines suddenly became a delicious scrumptious FREE meal. =)

Random comment: My mom called yesterday, thus I spoke Korean for half an hour in the hallway, thus some teachers and students gave me dirty looks. But they couldn't do anything. Lalala~~~~

Anyhoo, I feel as though my blog is degenerating to be something similar to my emails which have no coherency, fluency, and whatever else makes good writing. But, then again, I realize this is MY blog muahahahah.

I was gonna end this post but I looked up and saw the title: ...and a Movie. My movie was a Japanese movie called L: Change the World. I liked it. 

O.K. the end~

La Duzi~! The Chinese speak French...

Tuesday, July 1.

La~ Duzi!! (La DOO z) Meaning: to have stomach/bowel problems (a euphemism). Yes, because of this (inevitable, but not desirable), sleep was no good. Thus, classes were no good. My body was there in class, but my brain apparently wasn't. I think the teachers eventually realized this as I saw that as class progressed with my continuous 'huh?'s and blank stares, they asked me fewer and fewer questions. 

After more trips to the bathrooms during break times, my small class went to Chinese table with our teacher and went to eat Peking Duck at a small restaurant close-by our school. It was my first duck. I don't know if it was because I had no appetite, or if it was that the restaurant was not a good choice (I think our class agreed silently that it wasn't), or if it was the duck, but I didn't like it. My stomach agreed. 

Later, during dinner, my stomach apparently didn't agree with sushi either.

One week in. I thought I would last longer.

SHUFA = ART

Monday. June 30

The last day of June already. Where has the summer gone? 

The weather is colder, and the rain in persistent. Days are gloomy. Is global warning yet again to blame?

After classes today, we had a speaker talk to us about business in Asia and how different it is than in the US. Talked a lot about the importance of relationships, culture, and the knowing about the people you deal with in Asia - shades of gray against the black and white of business in America (and Europe). "Be a chameleon," he says. 

After the lecture, we had a brief dinner at McDonald's and went to calligraphy class. I didn't understand most of what our professor was saying when she was talking about the background of calligraphy, different types, famous calligraphers, etc. I pretty much understood her whole lecture to be that calligraphy = art, not writing b/c each word is different. I think. The rest of the lecture I was to be in awe at how pretty her brush strokes were and struggle in my horrific attempts to copy her. In short, it was incredibly fun (except the first bit when all she did was talk).