When in China, remember: be a noodle, not a chopstick!

Week 1 China
Beijing: literally translated means "northern capital." It's hard to believe that a city with over 22 million people now is only one of two capitals of China. And it is one of over 100 cities that have a population over 1 million people. The US has 9 such cities. About 23% of all the people on earth live in China. Although it was very much as I imagined (crazy, bascially), there is something so new and exciting about being in such a monumental city in the scope of where our world is heading. Even as my plane landed at the airport, I could see the layer of pollution that infiltrates the air like a haze that just won't go away. It's both subtle and shocking. What is so interesting about this city is the fact that despite the obvious environmental affects due to the fast-paced development and growth occurring (approximately 7 skyscrapers are built per day!), there are significant signs of environmental efforts everywhere. For example, from the metro you can see entire apartment complexes with solar panels covering the roofs. Even simple things such as their metro cards are evidence: unlike the little paper metro tickets they use in Paris that are thrown away as soon as they are used, in Beijing they use plastic metro cards to pre-pay to "check in and out" of the metro. When you use your last of your allotted number of trips, the machine eats your card when exit the last time. You can tell the cards are re-used, for they look scratched and worn. Some things are so simple, yet make so much sense you wonder why we're all not already doing it.

My first experience with Chinese food upon my arrival was a complete contrast with the food of Spain. First of all, if you were not already aware, Spain is lacking in anything you may consider "spice." Upon realizing this one day in Salamanca, a fellow Moore School classmate of mine said "Didn't Columbus set out in search of spices? Apparently that was the Spanish's last attempt to find them..." It's something you don't realize how drastic of an issue it is until you go somewhere like China, where spicy red pepper and other items that put your mouth on fire are put into your food without a request. In addition to the spices, food in China is certainly one thing that is not what we Americans know as "Chinese food." Although it looks somewhat similar, the tastes are nothing what we know. At least in the non-American districts. The only things I can think of that we have in the US that are similar, but not the same, are kung pao chicken, dumplings and fried rice. There are no spring or egg rolls. And certainly no "sweet and sour chicken." Luckily my boyfriend Cooper, who I came to visit, had been in China for 2.5 months doing nothing but learn Chinese, so he was knowlegeable enough to get us around and get us nourishment. I quickly learned his trick: only eat at restaurants that have picture menus! Without which, even remotely knowing what you are eating is nearly hopeless. I quickly learned that there are several rules my boyfriend and his fellow Chinese trackers had adopted: "Don't ask questions about the food. More than likely, you don't want to know." Or, my favorite: "Be a noodle, not a chopstick!" obviously meaning don't be difficult, just go with it. This was not an easy motto to adopt in practice, but I soon realized you don't have much choice in a city where you would think most people speak English...but they don't. Surprisingly true. Luckily my first night we participated in Korean BBQ, which was an interesting array of tables with grills on top which you proceed to cook your strips of meat and vegetables yourself. It reminded me of the French "raclette" which is a pan on a grill at your table where you cook meat and potatoes. Being without cheese, the Korean version is much less messy!



Over the course of my first week only in Beijing, I was able to visit most of the major sites: the Temple of Heaven, the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, the Summer Palace, Lama Temple and of course the silk market. All of these sites were equally impressive and spectacular in their own way. The Forbidden City is so big it would take someone days to see the entirety of the grounds: it consists of 980 surviving buildings with 8707 bays of rooms. It's seemingly neverending! What is also surprising about Beijing is that everything is SO far away, even with the metro. If you were to walk between metro stops, it would probably take you between 30 minutes to an hour. Beijing is so big (and polluted), that from the top of the hill of the Summer Palace (which is located on and overlooking the edge of the city), you can see probably about 10% of the city. While your sight is obviously hindered by pollution, it is just mind-boggling to think how big the city is.


Amongst other items of note, I tried both Peking Duck (of course) and a Chinese version of fondue called "hot pot." I'm not actually sure "hot pot" is the technical name for this meal, but this is what it is referred to as amongst my boyfriend and his friends. It is essentially a little furnace/chiminea with a bowl around it consisting of water, which if you can imagine fishing for your food, this would be it. You can actually have two kinds- they have a divider for the water, on one side we had plain, and the other had spices like red peppers floating around in it. You order very thinly sliced meat and vegetables, and simply drop them into the water to cook. You fish around in there with your chopsticks, pull something out and check to see if it's ready. They give you several sauces (including a delicious peanut sauce) which you can dip the food into after it's ready to eat. The peking duck is not as interesting... for all they do is have someone carve the duck for you, then you wrap the meat in a special wrap and dip it into the special sauce. Very delicious all the same!


Some other quick observations on the Chinese:
-Rickshaws in China are like little aluminum boxes with 3 wheels, consisting of what looked like a motorcycle. No bikes were to be found.

-People spit everywhere. and when i say people, i mean everyone- ladies, men, you name it. on buses, trains, anywhere. They are not afraid to do what they need to do.
-People are always walking around and doing some sort of exercise at the same time: for example, while walking to the metro along the road, I saw a man with his arms out moving his hands up and down. I asked Cooper, "What is he doing?" he replied, "His exercises. That's actually a new one for me..." Apparently squatting at any particular time: on the sidewalk, on a bus, etc. is also completely normal. Perhaps they are practicing for the toilet, since everywhere excepted "westernized" areas of town only had squat toilets.
-Milk comes in bags

-You can buy a roasted duck or chicken in a bag almost anywhere, including the airport. They also
-Everyone is in a rush. All the time. Be prepared to push when going anywhere in public, specifically the metro station. Apparently we are all in a race, and I think the Chinese are winning...

Salamanca + naps + ham + vino = nearly a native Spaniard

I arrived in Salamanca on Jan.2, and it's been an experience. #1 (unfortunate) realization: French does not equal Spanish. Upon arrival, I was completely helpless. Lesson #2: Most Spanish do not speak English...or so we thought. I do believe that the people we encountered on our first few days who tried to help us while we desperately fumbled around in our Spanish dictionaries did and do not speak English. But more recently we have been wondering if a memo was sent out to the whole town saying "fyi the students are back. Pretend not to speak any English!" We have found that after several long conversations with people, such as landlords, they throw out a wierd phrase like "the linen bag zips up there"...how do they not know english and then know a word such as "zip" may you ask? well, upon questioning, they said "You are here to learn Spanish, no?" So there you have it. Never assume that people don't know English. Although it is obviously in our best interest to assume they don't, but don't say things you don't want people hearing...because they just might understand.

Well the last couple of weeks have been good, but I've all of a sudden developed a hankering for being lazy. Imagine that? In Spain and becoming lazy? Wanting to take naps, eat ham and drink vino all day long? Honestly I never thought I'd become a nap person, but having a two-hour window to take a siesta every day sure changes that! Everything but bars close from 2-4, yes it's true, and on Sunday NOTHING, i repeat NOTHING (except the itty-bitty 24 or 16-hour shop with a few necessities and candy) is open. It's amazing. Spain has truly adopted the day of rest. I never knew that existed...

Luckily, I found a place to live after just a few days of being here. Additionally it's in a good location not far from the Plaza Mayor (see left: me with Jarod, Nevin and Whitney, 3 fellow IMBA friends). It's actually on a Plaza, La Plaza de San Cristobal, and it's got a pretty decent view since I'm on the 4th floor. Unfortunately it faces the wrong direction, unlike my friend Shannon's apartment, which has a fabulous view of the cathedral and other old & big beautiful buildings that stand out on the horizon from the OTHER direction (see below right). No worries. I'm here to learn Spanish, not just have a killer view from my apt. I lucked out there (oh I didn't meet my roommates before i moved in...imagine that! it's a crapshoot, really). I live with a Colombian girl and a Spanish guy, and the girl speaks fluent English, but the guy speaks muy poco English! That's good, though, because it is going to force me to learn quickly...i hope!

So my fellow IMBA students and I have been enjoying the local cuisine and culture, and lesson #1 about eating at most places in Spain: portions are small (they call most of their tapas "pinchos") and be prepared to eat a lot of ham, cheese, bread, potatoes, eggs and more ham. You can throw in a little chorizo and bacon sometimes too. In fact, Spanish tapas are kind of like food at a Mexican restaurant: same ingredients all around, just put together "differently." You go to a new bar/restaurant and say "oooh! I haven't had that one yet!" but yes, you have. But there is a great thing- they have this great pink/orange sauce they put on most things, namely patatas bravas, that is AMAZING. Although i know it has to have mayonnaise in it, it's got something else (we are comparing it to the Japanese steakhouse white or "yumyum" sauce) and i seriously could use it on pretty much anything! Another key thing to know if you didn't already, the ham here is "fresh" aka cut fresh off the leg of the pig. They leave the foot and everything (black foot=good, tasty, & expensive...white foot=cheap & not so good). But don't worry- it's been cured, so it's ok if it just hangs around not refrigerated or anything...ha. Plus watch out because it's a little greasy on the outside, so you might not want to touch it. Another great thing to know? Although typically you go to a tapas bar to get this ham, aka have the bartender cut you off a few slices, you can buy these at the grocery! And not just the special ham stores, but pretty much ANY grocery store. Given this information, my friend Nevin decided to go ahead and do just that so he could munch on ham any time he pleased...(see pic at left) That's right. He bought a ham, which came with a ham stand with a little drawer to hold your knife and knife sharpener. Et voila! Jamon en su casa. Unfortunately Nevin didn't realize the catastrophe of buying a ham with a white foot instead of black, so he's kinda stuck with the lower quality ham for his sandwiches for a while...

On Sunday we had a little snow, and we sure made the best of the fact that it was Sunday and there was nothing else to do but play in the snow! It really was pretty, and in fact, it was more than a little for me...given that I'm from the Atl where we don't get much snow. So it snowed, stuck, and hung around for a few days, and we had a few snowball fights. So unlike Columbia, SC, it really does feel like winter here!

Class started this past Monday, and it's going quite well. The University of Salamanca is beautiful- it's over 700 years old, so the buildings are really neat. Below is a picture of a little courtyard in the middle of building where my classes are. We took placement tests the first day, both a 100 question multiple choice test and a quick 30-second oral test, and somehow i managed to place into a high level of class. Not sure how that happened since I guessed on the written test, and only managed the oral test due to having been in Spain for 1.5 weeks prior...anyways I ended up dropping down which was a very wise decision! Although those classes (the higher level ones) were in the morning, mine are in the afternooon: class from 1-2, siesta 2-4, then class 4-8. It's quite an adjustment. But it's good becuase now I'm in a beginner class, and although I can understand my professors, my absolute inability to understand the conversations between my roommates has made me realize I have mucho to learn!

Adios Barcelona, Hola Salamanca

Alright well Barcelona was quite the whirlwind of a trip, and unfortunately I did a little less sightseeing than anticipated. But it was a great time, nonetheless. My friends and I arrived and stayed there for 3 nights, and while we spent the first few nights enjoying ourselves, New Year's Day was spent catching up on jet lagged sleep and recovering from the night before...luckily although we had a bit of a dilemma- a girl in the group got her purse stolen (right off her wrist!), we made the best of it and everything turned out ok.

So here's what happened:
We were just walking down a side street (with plenty of restaurants and shops around, but it wasn't a main road) and yes although it was after midnight and we were having fun, I can't say we were being out of the ordinary uncautious. She even had a small wristlet purse and he literally ripped it so hard it broke off. Several of us took off running after the fellow (even a chef from a restaurant ran after him as well!), and people in the street all kept pointing which way to run, but we never found him.  She unfortunately had another girl's money and credit cards in there too, as well as our room and hostel keys! oops. The credit cards got cancelled, and luckily no one had any passports in the bag, so that was good. Strangely enough, 6 of us we were actually staying in the hostel owner's apartment about 2 blocks from the actual hostel. See there were too many of us to stay in the regular hostel (there were about 12 of us total), and the owner was going to be out of town, so he apparently was ok with letting us stay in his place...? Awful trusting, these Spaniards are. And luckily we had another set of keys, but it took some searching to find the spare to our room. So moral of the story, it never hurts to be too careful...

As for what I saw other than the inside of our hostel, well it consisted of a trip to the Sagrada Familia, and a run down to the beach with my friend Jarod. We went to the Ciudadella Park, where there was a beautiful fountain and some really neat buildings with greenery and benches inside. Very neat. So other than the excitement of new year's, we didn't get to do too much...so i will have to make a trip again to see the things i have now missed in my first and second trips to Barcelona! I will say, we are eating a lot of jamon, which is a major staple in the diets of people here, and i have a feeling I'm going to tire of it pretty soon! Although it is tasty! I did try the meat off of a pig leg on New Year's Eve, which was not as bad as it sounds or as you would think!


Now I'm in Salamanca, with just 3 others- Shannon, Jarod and Nevin.  We arrived yesterday and we are planning to go check out our school, get cell phones, and look for a place to live tomorrow...