Trip to the Dirt Market

This weekend Kim and Laura (another intern that came from Maine) decided to go and check out the Dirt Market (Pan Jia Yuan). While we were in the cab on the way there, there was a lot of traffic and it took us about 20 minutes to get there. When we finally arrived there were rows and rows of different things to buy. It was a little overwhelming, the amount of stuff that was there. We walked up and down a few different aisles. There were lots of tea pots, tea cups, beads, stones and different jewelry. There was also tonnes of art work. We walked up and down so many different aisles looking at the beautiful artwork. I bought my first things from Beijing too!! i just couldn't resist haha For those of you who don't know I love panda bears so when I saw this I decided to buy it and put it up in my room. 

 
 
While we were looking we weren't sure how much we should be paying for some of the items so we decided to do some asking around and head back to the dirt market once we knew a little more about what we should be paying. 
 
On our way back it was nice to look at all the different buildings we were passing by. Some of them looked really cool. It was hard to get really good pictures because we were moving but I snapped a few. 

 
It was also interesting to see that next to these high rise buildings were apartment buildings. There are such different living conditions side by side here. There can be a big high rise building next to an apartment building and then next to that another big building. 

Mid-Autumn Festival

Wednesday of this week we had a day of school. The holiday is called the Mid-Autumn Festival. It is when the moon is full and it is kind of like a thanksgiving holiday for them. They get together and spend the time with family. One of the things that they do on this day is to give out Mooncakes to celebrate. I got two and this is what they look like. 

 

 
I heard that there are some that taste good and some that do not taste very good. I opened them up and found out that inside they look like this 

I did not find that they tasted very good....

The Great Wall

Something I thought I would only see in pictures I got to actually see for myself. It was such an awesome experience and I still am in awe that I was actually there.

We woke up early on Sunday morning and went down to the front of the school to meet our driver. Sadly he was a little late but finally arrived. Mark, Kim and I got in and we also went along with another guy named Ryan.

I think we got a little lost on our way there. We went up one street for a very long time only to turn back around and go back down the road about 30 mins later haha, but then we finally made it.

We took a cable car up the hill to get onto the great wall. Kim and Mark were not big fans of heights so Ryan and I had a good laugh as we made our way up. Here are a few pictures on the way up to the wall.

Also here is a picture about the rules of riding the cable car. Favorite part of this one is that the following people can’t ride the cable car “drunkard and people who are insane” haha

I snapped so many pictures while I was up there haha it almost all looks like the same thing but I just couldn’t get enough. It was very steep in some parts and so many stairs. I got a very good work out. I wanted to walk all the way to the top, Ryan was up for it but it would have taken to long and we didn’t have enough time.

It was very hot and sweaty while we were walking but we stopped so many times to snap pictures that it was ok. I could have spent hours and hours up there just taking in all the nice scenery. It was so beautiful.

To get down from the top of the great wall we took a slide. I did not get any pictures of this because I did not want to have the chance of losing my camera while I was on it, but I snapped a picture of what it looks like.

 Here were the signs that were posted on the way down to the slide.

We had a good laugh at the “Dotice to visitors” at the top of the red sign. It didn’t get old the whole way back to the school haha!

Canadian Embassy Ball

On Saturday night we luckily got tickets to the Canadian Embassy Ball. The theme was Canada on Ice and we got all dressed up and piled onto a bus with a lot of the other teachers from my school. There were some people way more dressed up than I was but luckily there were also some people who were a little less fancy as well.

When we got off the bus we arrived at this very fancy hotel and when we walked in this was the chandelier that was hanging in the front entrance:

We took an elevator up a few floors and handed our tickets to two people standing at the entrance. Waiting right inside were people holding trays with glasses or champagne. There was an ice bar which was so cool. I took a picture but it does not look as nice as seeing it in person.

There was a silent auction going on and people were just walking around chatting with the other teachers and getting excited to walk into the room where dinner was going to be served. They would not let us in but every time someone opened the doors we would peak in and it looked so nice.  

The doors finally opened and we rushed in to get good seats. There were tables assigned to CIS and I got a seat next to Kim and Mark. There was a skating rink/dance floor in the middle in front of the stage where the band was playing. Yes, I said skating rink haha I saw a few young girls figure skate and some young boys came on and skated around in Canadian jerseys. I tried to take some pictures but they did not turn out that great because there were so many lights on in the room so my flash wouldn’t go off. I was pretty upset.

We had a really fancy dinner. I remember when I used to work serving at banquets (brought back some not so great memories haha) but it was nice to be other the other side getting served.

After dinner they did a draw for two top prizes and I had my fingers crossed that I would win. When we got our 4 tickets (one for Mark Aaron Kim and I) I said I wanted number 13, but when Mark handed them out he forgot and passed 13 to Aaron and I got number 12. I shrugged it off as no big deal. Sadly none of us won the two top prizes. They had a bunch of other prizes where they put the winning ticket numbers on a board at the back of the ball room. Mark and I decided to go check it out. While we were looking Mark is like look one of us won, number 12. I thought I still had number 13 for some reason but then I remember that I didn’t get it and I was like, "that’s me! I won!!!" So we go over to the table and I said that I am number 12 and she hands me an envelope. On it, it says “Pangu 7 Star Hotel Beijing 1 night in a premium Deluxe Room inclusive of two breakfasts”  I was so excited it didn’t really sink in what was on my envelope. 7 star hotel!! Wow!! I was so happy!

It turned out that Mark won a buffet for two at another hotel as well.  : )

Here is a picture of Mark and I after we won! I know mark looks very bad in this picture but my camera was dying so I was avoiding looking at the pictures after they were taking to save the battery life...but I guess that was a bad idea...sorry Mark : (

When I got home that night I checked out the website for the hotel that I won the room at:

http://www.panguhotel.com/en/introduction.html

I spent the rest of the night dancing and socializing with the other teachers!! Again most of the pictures did not turn out that great : ( but I will attach a few! I am hoping I will get sent other ones and I will attach them as I get them.

 I know these pictures are very blurry but they all look like this..so sorry!

1st Subway Experience

Friday night Mark wanted to venture out to find a jacket for the ball we were going to. So we ventured out on a rainy cold night here and made it to the subway station. I have heard stories about how packed they get but talking about it and actually doing it are two totally different things. I think we picked a bad time to go for the first time because it was rainy and Friday evening but I guess it can’t get much worse that when we went. You literally get shoved, or crammed onto the subway car and you can’t really move at all except when someone shoves you over to get on or to get off. And there are people right next to you all around you. I was very uncomfortable and did not have any personal space at all! We had to take two different subways to get where we were going and I was dreading the thought of having to get back on to go back to where we were. Luckily on the way back it was not half as bad as it was on the way there. It is not something I want to do again ahah but it is an easy way to get around town so I know I will be making my way on there again. Wish me good luck! hahha

Cooking!

 
This is what I have to cook on. It might not look that bad to you, but its crazy what you can't make without an oven. I miss being able to bake..I know, shocking haha



Cooking is definitely not as easy or as fun as back home. 
But I guess it is way easier to order food or eat out here ...and cheaper, but also not as healthy..so much for loosing a few pounds while I'm here! hahahYou also can't really choose the temperature you want to cook at. And these burners will just randomly increase heat or decrease heat. It is great fun! You always have to be on your toes making sure that you keep it at the heat that you want when you are cooking something. I have burnt a few things and still haven't figured it all out haha There are two of these burners in each room and I have heard from other people here that only the pots that are for the burners work on these burners ( so you can't just buy a frying pan and use it on these burners) 

Random Pictures

These are all around the school and in our apartment building in the hall. They catch all the bugs that are flying around. I was surprised to see them inside because I am so used to seeing them outside. 

 
Here is a picture of the air conditioner that I have in my room. One in my bedroom and one for the rest of my apartment. It has been a life saver here because it is so hot. It still gets into the 30s here! I am hoping that it starts to cool off a bit though because some days it is just so deadly hot. 

Mark, Aaron, Kim and I took a walk a few weeks back and one of the streets we went down was lined with trees and it looked very pretty! We tried to get creative ..sadly it is a little blurry. 

 
This is the road that is right in front of our school and apartment building. In these pictures it does not look very busy but this is the street that I thought was very deadly to cross. You have to wait until it is clear one way and then you walk or run to the middle and wait for the traffic on the other side to be clear so that you can make it to the other side. 

There are also two bike lanes on each side. Many people bike here!! You also have to watch out for them because they just fly by you too. And there are bikes here with motors...they are very silent though. They are known here as "the silent killers" you can't hear them coming and if you aren't careful...well you can guess what happens. We always have a good laugh when we are walking and one of us will see one coming and just say silent killer and you know to move out of the way haha 

Fun Fact!

Most babies here do not wear diapers when they are very little. They wear bottoms called split pants and I guess the parents know when they have to go and they undo the childs pants and let them go to bathroom. 

My View

Here are some better pictures of the view from my apartment. The one that I put with that first blog aren't the best so I waited for a nice day and snapped some better ones. 
 

 
I also took some pictures when the sun was setting. I am hoping to keep trying to get good ones of this because they are so pretty. There are some days when it is really foggy here and you can't see very far and the sky is definitely not blue haha so I take advantage of the nice days and try and snap pictures. 
 
Today was one of those days where it was very smoggy so I decided to post these so I could look at them and think about the blue sky days haha
 
Enjoy! 

 

Theme song (Kim and I)

There are only a few television stations that have English here but they are very good! Star World which plays shows like "How I met your Mother", "Glee" , Two and A Half Men" etc. Then we get HBO where we watch movies, sometimes the same ones over and over again haha. We get a few others that play movies and other shows. We get the discovery channel, news, and sports. 
 
Anyways on one of the channels which my TV is usually on has these commercials where they play this song called "Fly to Seoul" I think by 2PM. I think they are like the backstreet boys of Asia. Kim and I hear it all the time and it is very catchy. We have decided it is our theme song and I thought I would share it so you can all enjoy it with me. I have only heard the full song a few times but the chorus is the part that I often so you might not like it right away but just keep listening haha
Hope you like it !: )

The Solana

 
This is a place behind my school and apartment building. It is where I went the first night I was here and have been going to buy groceries with Kim. There are lots of restaurants and shopping places but there are the more expensive places. There is a restaurant called All Stars where they make very delicious burgers (this is the restaurant they took us to our first night here...some good Western food). 
 
I took some pictures of some of what it looks like: 

There is also a beautiful fountain that you could stand and watch for a long time. They play music and water just seems to go perfectly with the fountain as it sprays up. I tried to get some food pictures of the fountain but its definitely not as pretty in a picture as it is actually seeing it. 

 
To walk to the Solana and back is an interesting walk. There is one part where there isn't really a sidewalk and you have to have your eyes watching for the cars that are coming and then move over to the dirt part so you don't get hit haha We also get to walk over a little bridge that gets lit up at night 

 
It looks very pretty but the water underneath is green..literally and you have to try not to breath in too much while walking by because the smell isn't the best. 
 
Oh and they also play music that is well known to me while walking through this area. I have been lucky enough to hear Dynomite and some Miley and Bieber haha it gives me a little taste of home while Kim and I walk and sing along...I mean walk along!