The Whole Family Together, After Church

It is so great to have Walker and Jennifer and Atticus back in the US after their year long travels in Europe, etc. And we were so blessed to also have Courtney join us from her schooling and working in California. Oh yes...we like Belle, too.  :)

Mid-December Christmas Activities

It was not easy for the four of us to all agree on the right tree for our Christmas celebration. I thought that maybe majority would rule, but Belle insisted on unanimous consent. Courtney later observed that our family quartet, that night, was composed of two opposers (A & B) and two compromisers (C & S). 

The girls shared some laughs while waiting for our Stake Choir and Orchestra performance of excerpts from the Messiah. Audrey was one of four piano accompanists to the choir. If you look closely at Belle and Audrey in the picture above and below, you will see that they smile and laugh exactly the same. 

The girls in our family are so pretty. Christmas time is family time. Put those together and what makes more sense than a family portrait whenever you get the chance? Loving these girls, and loving Christmas.

Thanksgiving fun with family

Courtney Goes to California

 Courtney and Dad at Doheny Beach, California. Almost three years, to the day, from when we stood together on Rialto Beach, Washington.

Joan and Russ were generous and fun, hosting us for a few days while Courtney got settled into her new apartment in preparation for attending UC Irvine. It is a comfort to us to know that she will have loving relatives nearby while we are so far away.

Christmas Day Bike Ride

Ruth Ann got a new bike for Christmas, so we went for a ride to test it out. She looked good on it, and she seemed to like it, so we will say it was a success.

 I like both of these photos. I cropped the one on top, and I corrected the color in the one of the bottom.

Who is Who?

Courtney in China, Letter 12

We have finally left Shanghai and are in Guilin!

I am so happy! It feels like I'm on vacation again. Shanghai was great, but the dorms were super dirty and I (and everybody else) was just so tired of climbing 83 stairs to get home, going to class, doing homework, having to take cold showers, and  being hot and sweaty all the time. It was so nice to get to Guilin and go to this really cool cave then be able to come back to the hotel and go swimming! It was literally the funnest time I've ever had in a pool. We were so happy and relieved and excited and jubilant to be in the refreshing water! 

These past couple of days have been an experience. On Friday we went on a day trip to some ancient fishing village and it was alright. I hadn't eaten breakfast so I was so starving by the time lunch came around, I was so excited for lunch! We go into this restaurant, which isn't the best looking, but it's China, so I excuse that, but there is only one small standing oscillating fan in the whole restaurant. So I'm hot and sweaty and starving to death, and I'm trying really hard to be a nice a person everybody and I think I was. The moment that they brought out the dried fish heads, the shrimp with eyeballs, the lotus root, and the squid legs, I had decided that I reached my limit of Chinese food intake. Normally I can find something that I like in a meal like eggplant or cabbage or rice, but this meal everything tasted horrible! Even the rice! (This is the beginning of the end).

On Saturday we went to this beautiful island that had a ton of nature everywhere. We were able to rent bikes and take them around the island. It was a really fun experience. On this bike ride though I had hit a bump on a bridge and my nice traditional style fan that I had been using flew out of my basket and landed in the water. :( Also that day my mechanically powered hand crank fan got smashed in my backpack and broke. After the biking we went to this restaurant place to eat and I got the vegetable and bean curd option and it literally was the WORST food I have ever had (don't worry though that night we went to Papa Johns and I ate some really good pizzas). When we got back to the dorms our power had been turned off because we used all of the money we had put on the card. So our room was dark and really hot. That night is when my cell phone got lost in the Chinese Taxi system (I'm trying to come up with a better story like it fell off the great wall, or it was eaten by a panda or something). So we had to pack up all of our stuff last night in the dark with no a/c and I didn't have my phone to use as a flashlight or anything. 

Anyway, I'll stop complaining because I am in China and that is still so cool! But, after having all those experiences I am soooooooo happy to be in a hotel with power and wifi and ac and a pool! Admist all those annoyances I had some really great times. I am very excited to be able to go back to America though and eat some yummy foods. 

Hope you guys are doing well! 

Love 

Court

Courtney in China, Letter 11

Ni Hao! 

This past week has been pretty busy. Today was our Final exam, now school is over!!!It was a hard class and even harder to fit all the information into 3 weeks of learning. Anyway, it's done!

A week ago on Thursday half of us went to the Pearl Tower (see attached photo) in downtown Shanghai. It is like a sightseeing tower I guess, you can go to the top and look out at the city. We decided to go at night so that we could see all the building lit up and it looked super cool! We had to wait about an hour and a half in line in order to go all the way to the top. The very top floor was a space themed floor. All the walls and floors were totally white and lit by blue lights. It might have been cool if there weren't about 2.5 billion people up there trying to look out of the same 3 ft. window you were looking out. The middle pearl of the pearl tower had a glass floor that was pretty cool! 

This past weekend we went to Nanjing. It was soooooooooooo hot and soooooooooooo humid and I was soooooooooooo sweaty! I tried really hard to enjoy the sights, but it was a struggle. To get to Nanjing we took a 3.5 hour bus ride in this light brown volkswagen bus. I somehow got stuck in the seat that was on top of the tire so I had literately no leg room. But the bus was somehow the best part of Nanjing. Somebody thought that we needed to see 3 different sections of the exact same city wall. It all looked EXACTLY the same, but we spent 45 minutes at each spot. Despite my negative attitude I still had a good time, everybody was feeling the same way so we all bonded over our mutual sufferings (suffering?). 

Today we decided to go to the World Financial Center in Shanghai because they have a sky bridge on top of their tower that is supposed to be taller than the pearl tower. It was really cool! The view was so amazing. It was about the same view as the pearl, but in this building the windows were clean so you could see out of it, there were no lines, and the had amazingly fancy toilets. You can't judge a book by its cover, but you can judge a building by its toilets. These bathrooms were so nice and the toilets could be heated and cooled to your temperature preference, and they were bidets as well. Anyway it was a really fun time. We have developed a love for McDonalds icecream, so wherever we go now we have to get ice cream from McDonalds afterwards.

Yesterday I lost my ID card that I use to buy food with and pay for my showers. So I've had to suffer through cold showers. I guess it's not that big of a deal because we leave here on Monday to go to Guilin, but it's a little bit annoying. Tomorrow we are traveling to an ancient village. Nobody knows the name of it, just that it's ancient. Then Saturday we are going to an island somewhere and riding bikes around it, I think... Monday thru Thursday will be spent in Guilin then Thursday we fly to Beijing and we all leaving on Friday for America! It will be really nice to come home, but I'll miss China. I always forget that I'm currently living in China. 

The following link is our theme song for this study abroad. http://youtu.be/wWLhrHVySgA

I love you guys! Can't wait to see you in a week! 

Court

p.s. I ate a squid. It tasted like burnt rubber

p.p.s. This following paragraph is our iternary for Nanjing. This is a good sampling for what english writing is like in China. Half the time we have no idea what they are trying to say. We were really looking out for the "profound" and the "paddling sound" and I'm not sure we found either of those. I thought you might enjoy reading it. 

Travel arrangements:

D1: Start from JiaoTong Unversity, 3.5hours travel, arriving Nanjing about noon. Dr. Sun Yat-sen's Mausoleum - after lunch visit the great revolutionary forerunner Mr. Sun Zhongshan (free, closed on Monday, visit time about 1.5 hours): love Fang, ramps, Mausoleum doors, Beiting, the festival hall, Mausoleum, Mausoleum of the magnificent, profound, known as "the first modern history China Ling"; visit the Ming Dynasty's founding emperor Zhu Yuanzhang and empress Ma tomb - Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum (listing price of 70 yuan / person, visit time about 1 hours), has a special status in the history of the development of Chinese mausoleum, it is "the Ming and Qing Dynasties Royal first Ling" reputation, in 2003 July for the world cultural heritage. For dinner; visit the old East Gate (free of charge), Qinhuai scenery - Confucius Temple Commercial Street (free, visit time about 1 hours): South of Nanjing the most prosperous areas in Six Dynasties and Ming and Qing history, folk culture, Jinling Grand View Garden in a body, pavilions, terraces and open halls, paddling sound, Wuyixiang, Wende bridge, lattice the door, Wen Shu Fang, east city, city and other small commodity street, free activities, products Nanjing ten Qinhuai charm, enjoy the Jinling features snacks, enjoy the old Nanjing folk customs.

D2: after breakfast, visit Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge South Fort Park (listing price of 15 yuan / person, visit time about 1 hours), the Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge is the first one built by China designed and double type railway, highway bridge, is of great significance in the history of China bridge, in the 1960's to the "railway bridge" the world's longest was included in "Guinness book of World Records"; after the tour poem "is the most callous Taicheng Liu, still smoke cage ten li Di" in the Taicheng scenic area (20 yuan / person, visit time about 1 hours), visit the Zhonghua Gate Castle (listing price of 34 yuan / person, visit time about 1 hours): is the castle gates of Nanjing Ming Dynasty city wall size of 13 gates in the largest, the most well preserved, the most complex structure of the ancient castle in the world today, with the Nanjing Ming Dynasty city wall, was listed as national key cultural relics protection units. After the end of the trip with Chinese food, after the ride back to your warm home.

Courtney in China, Letter 10

Hey all!

Last night we went to this really cool market-like place. It's outside and you enter it by going down this alley and then it's a maze of small alleys that are just lined with traditional Chinese stores mixed with more modern stores. It had a more artsy modern feeling than the other places we have been. There were some really nice restaurants tucked back in some of the alleys. The stores sold handmade Chinese pottery, tea sets, shoes, bags, along with some paintings and really nice photographs. This was probably my favorite place in Shanghai so far. 

When we got back some of us played hearts and I won!  You guys better watch out, when I get home I'm going to cream you. 

I should really be studying for the final that we have in a week! We are all just hoping that there will be a significant curve on the test because the test is 100% of our grade! 

Anyway not too much to report, but I hope you enjoy the pictures. 

Courtney Before China

Courtney was the lifeguard for the church girls' camp this summer, right up until the evening before she flew away.  These pictures were taken at the camp that night.

Courtney in China, Letter 09

Hey guys!

This past weekend we were able to go to Hangzhou, which is about an hour away by train. In Hangzhou it was about 95 degrees and 99 percent humidity - you could feel the water in the air when you breathed. It is comparable to the summers in Florida. The main difference that I found was that in Florida every building blasts their air conditioning so much so that it's almost a relief to walk outside into the enveloping warmth - Hangzhou does not do this! Each building is as sticky and hot as outside, sometimes if we were lucky there would be a fan that circulated the warm air around enough to generate a little breeze that could be felt if you stood in a very specific 1 inch spot. Despite this, Hangzhou is one of my favorite places we have visited yet. One main reason was the breakfast that the hotel served, it was a buffet that had everything: cereal, warm milk, fruit, rice, noodles, breads, deserts - it was the best breakfast we have had so far. 

When we first arrived we walked around this wooded park for what felt like an eternity. I'm not sure what the point of it was, all of us were pretty focused on finding ice cream. There are tons of little venders like at Disney World that will sell drinks and ice cream and stuff.  I made an amazing purchase at this park - a fan! They sell these traditional Chinese fans that are so nice! That night eight of us were headed out to find something to eat and came across a Pizza Hut and decided to eat there - it was so delicious (For those of you playing along at home: this is my 5th time at pizza hut). After pizza hut 6 of us went in search for this traditional Chinese medicine store. We could not find this place at all, but in the processes of looking we found this cute pedestrian plaza thing that extended for 4 blocks. It had a bunch of different stores around the perimeter and in the middle there were a bunch of families and people playing games and eating food and having fun. It was very much a non-touristy spot. Unlike the other markets that we went to where all the vendors would chase after you and haggle relentlessly with you - this place didn't have any of that - it was refreshing. 

The next day we went to a Buddhist temple, the 6 harmonies pagoda, a tea farm, and attended a performance on the river. The performance on the river was about their version of Romeo and Juliet, at least that's what we were told. I think? It was a little hard to follow each of us after the show had a different story line that we thought was right. What I got from the show was there was a snake and a pelican that met and fell in love, but the snake was kidnapped by ninjas that were hired by the pelican in hopes that he would be promoted to King of the Pelicans, but then there was a battle of the drums where he accidentally won her back, but then decided to push her off of a bridge and she swam away. The Pelican then decided that he wanted her back and flew around the world with his other pelican friends, but could never find her. I'm pretty sure that's what happened. It's hard to know though because one minute into the show it started torrentially down pouring. Before the down pour there was about 5 minutes where every minute and a half you would feel one rain drop. Chinese people are very weird about their umbrella usage, they will use their umbrella any chance they get and every single person has their own umbrella, including the babies. So once there was one drop every single person started freaking out and pulled out their umbrella so there are about one hundred umbrellas in front of us open blocking our view and there is no rain. Eventually worker people passed out ponchos to everyone to wear so they didn't have to put up the umbrellas. You know how much I LOVE ponchos, so I didn't put mine on, but just laid it over me. It was the second biggest mistake of my life (after eating that giant sub). I got so soaked and about half way through the soaking I decided to put on my dripping wet poncho, but I didn't realize that puddles had accumulated on my lap so I got water in my shoes, my backpack, down my back, everywhere. Despite the rain and not knowing the plot, the dancing and stuff was really cool! It was all preformed on the lake so it looked like everyone was walking on water. 

That night when we got back to the hotel all 13 of us watched World War Z - it was on TV in English, but it had Chinese subtitles. 

On Sunday we decided to go to church in Hangzhou, but it took us a long time to find the correct place that it was. Mainly because it was located in a house in the middle of a neighborhood. We got there about 25 minutes late and we more than doubled the attendance. For sacrament meeting they watched two general conference talks, and than Sunday school and Relief Society were just 30 minutes each. It was fun to be there, everybody took pictures of us to put in their ward newsletter and stuff. 

Now I'm back to trying to understand this Molecular Biology stuff. Our Final is a week from tomorrow and then we will be done. Hopefully I can survive until then! We are planning some trips into Shanghai for today and tomorrow before we leave for Nanjing on Friday. 

Hope everything is going well in America! 

Courtney in China, Letter 08

Hello all!

Lately, I can't remember what America is like. I guess it is half way through the study abroad, but I feel like I have been living in China for years. I would give anything to eat an extra cheesy large pizza with onion and pineapple and garlic on top. I could talk all day about food from my foggy memory of America, and often times our conversations revolve around this topic. The food isn't too bad here, they have really good donuts - which is like bread cooked with a little bit of sugar and salt sprinkled on top. However the other day I was eating on and found a piece of hair cooked into the middle and wrapped around the entire donut. It was gross. They have the weirdest flavor chips here. One flavor was cheese and sea salt - which left a strangely sweet and bitter after taste in your mouth for hours! It was SOOOOOOOOO gross until about 2 days ago when I was so hungry that they become one of the best foods I've ever had. Anyway, point is I miss the delicious food of home. 

 

This week has been pretty chill, we went into Shanghai for church on Sunday, but other than that we have mostly been hanging around the campus and going places nearby. Sunday was fast Sunday and a lady got up to bear her testimony and in the middle invited our BYU group to her house to have dinner with her afterwards. It was pretty awkward, but we went over and she made us spaghetti and salad and bread. It was so good! On Monday the Bridgewaters invited us over to their new apartment to have FHE and they ordered 6 large Papa John Pizzas for everyone. They only got BBQ chicken and pepperoni, so I ate the BBQ chicken because I was so starving! It was a fun family night, they gave us prizes for the Amazing Race activity and we played Mafia which was fun. 

Our group in our free time is really big into playing games. One day we didn't have anything to do, so about 8 of us went to one of the canteens in between meal times and we played some card games. One game that we played was spoons. By the time we went through one round there was, no joke, 11 middle aged Chinese canteen workers watching us. They were having such a fun time watching us jump over each other to grab spoons. They were arguing with each other about what the rules were and stuff, some even played with us, it was a fun time! We have taken to playing games on subways, buses, planes, in classrooms, cafeterias, anywhere really. 

We are leaving tomorrow morning for Hangzhu city for the weekend. This past week has gone by so fast, I can't believe that are pretty much half way through July (ish)! I love China and I am having so much fun! I love the activities that we are doing and I love the people that I am with, I'm still not sure that I love molecule biology, but it's worth it! 

Hope everything at home is going well! Eat some Ole Ole fajitas for me! (and some Jacaranda pizza and garlic rolls, and the baked ziti, chocolate chip cookies, and cupcakes) 

Courtney in China, Letter 07

Dear family, 

Yesterday for the 4th of July I was able to sleep in until 11! It was so nice!! I have had a cold for like 4 days now, so sleeping really helped me. That night we had invitations to two separate parties, one was an official university social (so our professor strongly encouraged us to go) and another was a B-B-Q that was put on by other American students. The official social gathering was pretty lame, we had to make a powerpoint about American culture that we put together an hour before we left. It was interesting to learn about other countries, but there were only about 25 people (and we made up 13 of the 25). The B-B-Q had amazingly delicious american food and american music and american fireworks and american languages (english) so we all could understand everybody. After the party ended we came back to the dorms and about 8 of us played cards and watched the world cup until 3 in the morning. We played hearts for like 3 hours. I was winning the entire time by like 20 points, until I tried to shoot the moon, but ended up 1 heart short! It was torture!!!!!!!

Today was the day of the Amazing Race challenge in Shanghai. So a little after 10 this morning we all received an email telling us who was in our group, a team name (we were Huffle Puff there was also Sytherin and Ravenclaw), where the first pit stop was and some other instructions. So we all drop our breakfasts and computers and literally take off running. There was 2 groups of 4 and 1 group of 5. My group was 4 people 2 boys 2 girls. In our group we had two bikes so one person would drive and the other sat on the back and we went off to the subway stop about 8 mins away from our dorm. The first leg was by far the most intense leg and maybe the most intense thing I have ever done. The winners of the first leg had the opportunity to change their team name to Griffindor (the most coveted Harry Potter house, Belle can explain this all to you). 

So to get to the first leg, which was in a tea house in the middle of old shanghai we had to transfer to 3 different subways. The first subway we were on, line 5, the Ravenclaw team was also on. So as soon as the train pulled into the station we booked it up and down and around to get on line 1. We were literally going soo fast. Lindsey (the youngest who just graduated high school and is 18) was in the lead and as we were running down the stairs the train is there and she jumps on and the doors close right behind her and she starts banging on the windows and trying to open the doors, but she was stuck on the train and we were off the train. So we just hoped that she knew where to go and she did, she was waiting right outside for us. The next train that we had to get on was line 10 which required going out of the station crossing a street and going down an alley to find the next station. Unfortunately the next team caught up to us at the light to cross the street, so we just decided to not wait for the light to change but to trust that the cars would stop (I know this is a really bad life choice, but we wanted to be Griffindor)! The cars did stop and we were able to get 1 train ahead of the others, so when we did arrive that the tea market (which was a maze of shops and gross smells) we were the first people there, we even beat the Bridgewaters. 

When we did finally find the Bridgewaters they gave us a packet of instructions and maps of the next couple pit stops. The maps had 2 more pitstops shown, but along the way they had starred locations where if you had a picture at this place you could earn 5 points. They also had some other point gaining options like if you find up to 10 uniquely Chinese things then you get so many points, or if you get a picture of the other team you get 5 points, if you are the first team at a pit stop you get 20 points, etc. The funnest rule they had was if no other team has a picture of your team then you get 25 points. This made it fun sneaking around buildings, because we were all going to similar places. It was a really fun day that allowed us to see a great deal of Shanghai, but it was exhausting. At one point we bought tickets to the double decker tourist buses and rode that around to the various stops. 

At the end they took us out to eat at a Korean B-B-Q place that was so good! It was probably because I was starving, but it was delicious - I even ate some bacon because I was so hungry! We just got back around 10 pm, and we are all extremely tired from our 12 hour exploration of Shanghai. 

Tomorrow we are going to church in Shanghai at 10:30 and maybe doing some more sightseeing in the city? I'm not sure what the plan is exactly. I do know that I have a blister on the bottom of my pinky toe that is painful and is yellow, so it might be Jaundice, but its more likely just a blister. 

p.s. I'm so happy to hear that the yw are doing well, tell them I miss them! Also I do feel quite tall in china when we walk into places because the ceilings are so low, but we have some tall people in our group so I don't feel tall for too long. 

Courtney in China, Letter 06

Dear United States Inhabiters, 

The past couple of days have been spent exploring the Jai Tong campus  and Shanghai. We found the student center that has games, pool tables, ping pong tables, a gym, and a karaoke floor. There are about 5 "canteens" or cafeterias to eat at. One is even called the Western Canteen because it serves western food like onion rings and chicken nuggets. I have found a few items that I can tolerate, but the smell of the food in the mornings is starting to get to me. They literally eat the same thing for every single meal! It is crazy!!

Yesterday we went into the city of Shanghai which is about 1.5 hour subway ride. There are only three subway transfers though, so it's not that bad. We walked around the times square of China and found a Hershey's store and a M&M store. We ate at Pizza Hut that night - seriously like the BEST pizza I have ever had!! 

Today we went to the "Fake Market" where they sell all the knock off brands and stuff and it was underground and a total maze. It took forever to find everyone again. It was fun! 

Class is really hard, today I literally did not understand any word that she said. Luckily my roommate is a Molecular bio major and can explain everything to me. Tomorrow for the 4th of July we are going to some opening social for the International Students and then to a Bar-B-Q that people from the University of Michigan are hosting. Luckily we don't have classes on Fridays! YES! Then on Saturday Dr. Bridgewater and her husband are planning an Amazing Race challenge for us to do. They are dividing us up into 4 groups and emailing out the first clue in the morning and it somehow involves us going to different places around Shanghai and the first team gets a free dinner - that should be fun, everyone is excited!

The exciting news for today is that my clothes that I washed Tuesday morning have finally dried! There is a laundry room on the first floor that has about 6 washers and 2 dryers. In order to use these machines you have to go to the front office and pay to get a token for each. I was able to get a washer token with no problem, however, the dryer was another story. I went to ask them and said "dryer money" doing hand motions and everything, but the lady had no idea what I was saying. Another woman came and I thought she was understanding me because she was saying all this stuff in Chinese so I was smiling and nodding. The original lady then handed me 2 dollar coins and started laughing. They DID NOT WORK in the dryer. So about half an hour later I went back to the same people to try again and brought more money thinking I had the wrong amount and they started laughing, took my money and handed me a token-like thing (it looked like a button) and I tried it in the machine and it didn't work. So finally I just decided to hang up my clothes outside like everybody else. Unfortunately, it has rained everyday except today, so finally my clothes have dried and I now have more than 1 shirt to wear! 

I will never take dryers for granted again! 

Hope you guys have a fun 4th of July! I will miss going to Central Park or watching 1776! 

Courtney in China, Letter 05

So we finally made it to Shanghai! I am so glad to be able to unpack my suitcase and do some laundry. The campus that we are at is really big, but there is a bus that runs through the campus every 15 mins. We are staying in the International Student dorms - it was an adventure trying to get settled yesterday. We had a graduate student come with us to help get us settled and be our interpreter, but spoke as much english as I speak Chinese. It was super difficult to understand what was happening - we were so confused. We finally figured out our room assignments and how to pay to take a shower (showers cost 2 yuan for like 10 mins) and do laundry, pay for electricity, etc.

The dorm layout is four bedrooms (two people in each room) with a shared bathroom that has 1 shower, 3 stalls, and 3 sinks. There is also a shared living room/kitchen- like area. There are no couches or any thing kitchen-like about it, but there is a big table with 8 chairs and a big shelf like pantry thing for each person. Each room, along with the living area, has a balcony and a/c. I am very happy with the dorms- they are a lot nicer than the hotels we have been staying in and bigger too. However, there is a law in China that says that a building with more than 6 stories has to have an elevator. Our building only has 6 stories so there is no elevator and we are on the 5th floor. The first day taking all of the stuff was pretty tiring, but it hasn't been a huge deal, just annoying. 

Around the campus there are many "canteens" or cafeterias. We have a card with money on it that we can buy food with. Some of the food is good, and a lot of the food is weird, and a lot of times I will try to order something and will end up with food I did not even know existed. Today we went to the big supermarket store thing in the mall that sells a lot of food and I got some ceral, milk, oreos, chips, and bread. 

The first day of class was today at 10am. The building is about a 15 min walk from our dorm. The class seems really hard, but she is willing to work with us to make sure we understand everything and get a good grade. 

Shanghai is good, we haven't seen the city yet, but so far so good! 

Courtney in China, Letter 04

Wednesday June 25, 2014 9:45 pm

Good Morning! 

Today was a long day full of walking and sweating. The smog was the worst today then it has been in the past days. You couldn't see the sky and it looked like there was a fog everywhere, but it wasn't too bad. We had all decided to meet at 8:30 in the lobby to do some sight seeing today, because it was our free day. Finally at 10 we had everybody down in the lobby and ready to go. 

We decided to go to the Botanical Gardens which were conveniently located in the most northwest rural corner of Beijing only a 25 minute walk, 15 minute subway ride, and hour and a half bus ride to get there. So we arrived just after noon and decided to eat some McDonalds before we get going. The botanical garden was so big and spread out (it was probably at least the size of Disney World) we probably walked 100 miles to get anywhere. It was beautiful, but nothing amazingly special about it - although everybody else thought it was the most beautiful thing ever. One cool thing that a couple of us did was go into an active Buddhist temple that was tucked within the park - it was really cool! 

Later we grabbed some food from the mall and went to the famous Beijing Night Market which was really fun again. 

Tomorrow we leave at 6pm to go to another city for a few days until we fly down to Shanghai on Sunday. We may or may not be starting classes on Monday - I guess we'll see! 

China's a pretty awesome place! 

Courtney in China, Letter 03

Hey Americans!

Having a GREAT time in China! Today we got to go to the zoo, the Temple of Heaven (which was so fun! It was like Central Park), the Summer Palace, and an amazing acrobatics show. We are all getting to know each other so much better and getting along so well: I like everyone! 

Tonight for dinner me and 2 other people went back to Pizza Hut just is just down the street in the shopping mall. Although we had it last night it was so amazing and sounded so much better than cow spine soup, so we secretly went there. We have not told anyone because we are too ashamed. Afterward we then walked through the Beijing Times Square and ended up at the real night market (we thought we found it last night, but that was definately fake). The night market is so fun: we got to see live scorpions crawling on a stick and tons of other weird food. The best part though is negoiating prices with sales people. We all have kind of a competition going to see who can get something the lowesst price.  It is actually super fun! My best haggle is getting something down from 180 yuan (the money is called yuan) to 30 yuan. I was pretty proud, I didn't end up buying it, but it is fun to see how low you can make them go. When I get back home I am never paying full price for anything again. 

Tomorrow is a free day so I think we are going together to the botanical gardens. Thursday we leave on the overnight train to the place that has the terra cotta warriors (I forget the name of the city), so I don't know when I will have wifi again. Hopefully it will be like this hotel here. 

Anyway hope everything is going well there, I am have a fun time on the other side of the world. 

Courtney in China, Letter 02

Monday June 23rd 11:26 pm

It feels like I've been in China for a month now, but it's really only been two days! Yesterday I ate some duck eyes (minus the eyes) and went to Tiamen square to start a protest. Today I hagged with my first sales person, climbed the great wall, and ate at pizza hut. I've only been here for less than 48 hours and I'm already tired of the food. It is the same food for breakfast lunch and dinner. But don't worry Dr. Bridgewater is making sure that everybody is eating. I think I'll get used to it more as long as I don't think about what's in it. 

We were able to go to the night market tonight and see all the street food that they sell including starfish, squid, snakes, spiders - all on a stick. 

China is a pretty cool place! 

Courtney in China, Letter 01

Hey guys!

We just arrived in Beijing and are at the hostel.  It is 12:28 on Sunday morning. It is really nice surprisingly and we have slow internet connection (not wifi, but internet). Tomorrow, Sunday we will be going to church and then to the forbidden city and tiamen square. We will be at this hotel for 5 nights I think, so I'll try to keep you up to date! 

I'm really tired so I'll probably just go to sleep!

Swim Party at Friends' House