Jen: The Great Big Wall of China

So. We did it! We did all 3 big tourist areas of China. The Tian'anmen Square, The Forbidden Palace and the Great Wall of China! The Tian'anmen Square was a little underwhelming. There was the Chairman Mao image that many people go to see everyday. His body is still there and China has part of their budget set to restore his body every year. The line takes about 3 hours so nope. Didn't do it. The Forbidden Palace was pretty crowded and a lot of the buildings look similar but the rooms that I did see were good. I can't imagine what the area would look like before all the tourism. I heard 18 Emperors lived there! I've also heard they film movies there! There are night walks you can do for ￥180. And also Peking Opera.... Which is tempting. 
Lastly was the Great Wall. I guess I was suppose to wait for Rebecca but Alex ran up ahead and I knew we would walk at a  more similar pace. So sorry not sorry Rebecca! Maybe we'll come back again someday! I climbed way too many stairs today. But it was worse going down.

-Jen

Jen: My Partners for SEPP

So we're in Beijing now! Leaving Hangzhou was actually one of the hardest things. I didn't really get to know my conversation partners til the very end but every moment counted! I had a bunch of partners but they're very involved on campus so they couldn't come to meetings a lot. They're like me. Busy all the time always. My girls were Alice and Yuki. They're roomates and they're adorable. I gave them little polar bear figures and in return I got an Opera themed bookmark and a little purse. And they sent me little note cards! I've been told that writing postcards is a big thing in China for students when they go travelling. As for the guys, there was: Damon，a really talented dancer; Jiaoqiao, a really good soccer player who sings KTV off-key but proudly; Jungle, a shy guy with the coolest name ever; Sun, a student council member who also likes Peking Opera! Last of all I met Eric who is into History, Japanese culture, Travelling and doesn't mind walking around and talking. He's like a Chinese male version of me! I'll miss all of the people I've met here. I hope I'll see some of them again. I may even go back to that University again. It was a nice place. The ones in the surrounding area were pretty similar to that one too. AKA the one that me and Rebecca got lost in trying to find our uni...

-Jen

Rebecca: Goodbye China!

It's the saddest day of the trip - I don't want to leave yet! I had so many adventures in China, from KTV to squat toilets to getting hopelessly lost in Beijing. I climbed the Great Wall (and my entire body still aches) and took a boat tour around a water town, I ate deep fried bananas (new favourite food!) and haggled at a night market. I guess I can't really stay in China, since I literally have enough money for today's meals and that's it, but I'm sure I'd figure something out. 

I'm trying to pick a highlight of the trip, but I really can't decide. The trip itself was probably one of the highlights of my life. And at the risk of sounding sappy, I'm so glad Jen was on the trip with me. Having good friends to joke around with the whole way made everything so much better (that includes you, Steven). It wouldn't have been the same without late-night card games and exchanging unflattering candid photos of each other.

Our plane leaves at 6pm tonight, so I'll be back in Toronto at 6:45pm after a 12 hour flight (wrap your head around that one). It is quite literally going to be the longest Monday of my life. After I land in Toronto I've got another two hour flight to get home, so I'm going to be exhausted. I might have to sleep for a week or so. 

Anyway, I better get out and enjoy the last I'm going to be seeing of China for a while. I need to get me some more street food! Hopefully that little stand is still outside our hostel... 

See you at home!

-Rebecca

Rebecca: Beijing Impressions

As if apologizing for the grey and rainy skies over the last few days, our last morning in Hangzhou was sunny and the sky was at least partly blue. We said our goodbyes to our conversation partners yesterday, then left early this morning. It was just a short flight from Hangzhou airport to Beijing, then another bus ride to our hostel.

Every city we've been to has been vastly different. Shanghai was really Westernized, with lots of bright lights and English speakers. Hangzhou was full of trees and super clean. Beijing is... dingier, I guess. The streets aren't as clean, the buildings aren't as colourful and the air is thick with smog. Maybe it's just the area we're in right now - our hostel is right downtown. It's a good location, though. There's a subway station literally right outside our door, and lots of little restaurants and things nearby. 

I don't have a lot to write about today, since we spent most of the day travelling. I realized China has changed my tastes quite a bit. I ate some noodles that were pretty spicy today, and I really liked them. China has cured me of my pickiness - I'm still not super adventurous with food, but I'll eat just about anything you put in front of me. (Yes, Mom, that means you can cook whatever you want and I'll probably eat it.)

Saying goodbye to the university was sad, but hopefully we'll have lots more adventures here in Beijing!

-Rebecca

Rebecca: We Learn From an Airbending Master and Become Pop Stars

Sorry again about the sporadic updates - everything seems to conspire against letting us access the blog. We're not trying to ignore it, really. I wrote this on Monday, but I couldn't post it until now.

I know my post titles can be pretty sensational, but today really was a great day. We had Tai Ji class in the morning, and our teacher was pretty cool. He didn't speak English, but he taught us through a translator. A lot of the moves looked like he was airbending (er... it's from a show? I don't really know how to explain it), so I was impressed. Doing Tai Ji makes me feel cool and actually slightly coordinated for once. 

We also heard a story about a corpse found on campus a couple years ago. It was kind of creepy - the campus does have some sketchy parking garages and underground areas, and walking through them can be scary. For the most part, though, it's very safe. There are gates and guards everywhere - it's a common thing in China. It's not that the country is dangerous, it's just a thing they do. 

And then we became pop sensations! That's a lie, we actually just sang karaoke. They call it KTV here, and it's a bit different from North American Karaoke. You go with a group (Jen and I went with some of our Chinese conversation partners) and you get a little room with couches and a karaoke machine all to yourself. We had so much fun! There were a lot of English songs, although most of them were either old (we sang some Beatles) or by super popular people, like Rihanna or Taylor Swift. Jen even sang some Mandarin songs (I have audio recordings, so there's proof)! Normally I don't like singing in front of people, but it was no problem here. Chinese people have a different sort of opinion about singing. Everyone sings, even if they're not that good. You hear people randomly singing on the streets all over, and KTV is hugely popular (and really cheap). No one minds if you go off-key a little or miss a line, so that makes KTV really awesome instead of nerve-wracking.

It's almost time for us to fly to Beijing for our final weekend before we go home. I keep half-joking that I might just hide in someone's dorm and stay here. Really the only thing stopping me is that I miss all you guys at home a lot (I haven't been home since Christmas; the school semester plus this trip makes it the longest I've ever been away), and I guess the fact that I've already committed to my job back home. But in two years, when I get my degree and my TESL certificate, I'm either coming back here, or maybe to Japan or Korea or Indonesia, and finding myself a job in this incredible, crazy, terrifying and wonderful part of the world.

Now if only the flight weren't so painfully long...

Jen: In Which I sing for a crowd of Chinese Students in a Costume

Today started out pretty slow because we didn't have class. Me and Rebecca had the most delicious breakfast ever! I can't believe I like greasy toast but you don't understand. It's sooooo goood dipped in soy milk.
I also had a soy beverage which I thought was yogurt but it was aight. China has cool fruit! Including this berry that costs 1￥ per berry. That's pretty expensive. But there better then any fruit I've ever had. The fruit is sweet here and not too acidic. Pineapple on a stick is a staple on campus! Mmm!
Alright enough salivating.

After breakfast I went to see some sports events at the stadium. There were tonnes of races. It seems to be perfectly okay if you fall over after your leg of the race. I hope the runners stay hydrated. The Chinese students with me cheered for their team so I joined in with a loud 加油!! All of the classes have their own cheers. I want to learn one. Heehee. Maybe next time. Even the professors get involved in relay races. One of the profs lost his shoe mid run. It was unfortunate but hilarious! Even an old teacher ran in the final leg. Really impressive.
After a short break of street food we headed back to the dorm to practice for tonight's performance. Performance you say?  I was asked to perform at an event to support a new mall. No no, not in Chinese. I sang two songs: September by Earth Wind and Fire and Payphone by Maroon 5. I had no idea what to expect. I legit learned one of the songs the day of.
It gets better. The introducer asked me if I would wear the costume of the Han Dynasty. Well they asked Rebecca first but she pointed to me. :stinkeye:
It was so exhillerating but scary. I'm use to the Chinese people staring at me but this was a whole new story. People were filming me everywhere. I'm legit on 50 people's phone right now. That's certainly not something I expected to do in this country. I love it here! So many experiences. :D

Rebecca: I Place My Fate In the Hands of a Chinese Man (And it Doesn't End Well)

So our wifi's been acting up again, so I'm going to post this whenever possible. I'm writing on Tuesday, May 13. I just realized our trip is halfway over TT_TT. Today was a pretty exciting day, as you can probably tell by the title.

Steven and I had been talking about getting our hair cut at the barbershop on campus for a while, so today we decided to make that a reality. Steven speaks Mandarin, so he translated for me a little, but really I just pointed to how short I wanted it cut and let the guy go wild.

And go wild he did. It was easily the longest haircut session I've ever sat through. The blowdry and style part took longer than the actual cutting of hair. He blowdried every single section separately, then started cutting again, then blowdried again, then sighed and straightened it, then trimmed and blowdried it again. I was pretty sick of sitting in that chair by the end. For a while I thought he was just making excuses to play with my vaguely reddish, non-Asian hair. His colleagues seemed pretty interested in what he was doing, too.

And then I realized he was actually just frustrated. He got out his phone and put something through a translating app, then showed it to me. It read something like "Your hair is too messy. It is too curly. It is not good. You need to straighten it like I did now. Now it is nice". I couldn't really decide whether to laugh or be offended. Excuse me for not having Asian hair!

So anyway, he kept cutting until it was way shorter than I wanted, so now I'm sporting this vaguely Asian take on a bob cut. It's probably not the most flattering haircut I've ever had, but everyone needs at least one bad haircut in their life, so mine might as well come with a funny story attached!

So other than getting my haircut by a man I couldn't communicate with, I didn't do much today. Little bit of shopping, little bit of getting sick, little bit of playing cards. Ate ice cream to recover after The Haircut.

I don't want this trip to be half over. I might just stay here. Although I really want some decent coffee. Not iced coffee in a bottle, not burnt with grinds at the bottom, just good, black coffee. But the tea here is really good, so I guess I'll survive.

-Rebecca

Rebecca: In Which We Climb Two Mountains

It's been a while, blog! Sorry about that. In my defense our wifi is pretty spotty. We've done a whole lot since our last update. We met our conversation groups and built kites together (mine was pretty rubbish), and we also went and saw West Lake. It was pretty touristy, but really pretty too. It's essentially a big lake by the city, with lots of gardens and little restaurants. It's really famous, apparently.

We also went on a tour of several museums (a tea museum, a silk museum, a historic rich guy's house which included some pretty sweet caves - caves! In a house! - and a traditional Chinese medicine museum) on a big tour bus. That wasn't so much fun - I don't really like being in a mob of stereotypical white tourists. I'd rather sneak off and do my own thing with a small group. Jen feels the same way, so we end up doing that a lot. 

But what I really want to write about is today! We had a day off, so we went off to Hangzhou to sight-see. I guess I should explain - we're not actually living in Hangzhou; we're in a smaller city called Xiasha, which is in the "Greater Hangzhou Area", for lack of a better term. We can take a bus and the subway to get into Hangzhou. Anyway, a couple of us went off to see a famous temple just outside the city. It took a long time to get there, but it was definitely worth it. It rained on and off all day, which would normally ruin an outing, but the rain actually made it better. The temple was out in the mountains, so everything was green, green, green! The rain made the mountains all misty, so it looked really cool. 

Anyway, I said we went out to see a temple, but we didn't actually end up seeing the temple. Oops. It cost extra to get in, so we went the cheap route and climbed around the mountains instead. There are carved Buddhas in the rocks all over, and stone steps to climb up. We basically climbed winding stairs through vines and trees until we were ready to drop. The view was totally worth it, though! Then we wandered off and went to a monastery, where the tea was waaaaay too expensive. 

After that we decided that since we'd barely eaten all day and had lost the rest of our group (at that point it was just me, Jen and one other guy from our group), we'd just go ahead and climb another mountain! Honestly, I don't know who makes decisions in our group, but we should fire them (it was probably me). So we went and climbed about six trillion stairs to a little temple at the top of a mountain. It was a little out of the way - the English signs stopped, so we knew we were out of tourist-land - but really cool. The view, once again, was totally worth it. 

But it was a lot of stairs. Seriously a lot. Like possibly a human rights violation, or an ancient form of torture. For any Skyrim players reading this, we basically climbed to the Throat of the World today, and let me tell you I am nowhere near as in-shape as the dovahkiin. I really think I've gotten more exercise on this trip alone than in the rest of my life. I'm losing weight and everything. My feet might fall off, too (that would definitely contribute to the weight loss) (my jokes aren't as funny as Jen's, I know).

Okay, okay, I'll finish off before this becomes a novel. We ate Chinese fast food, which is not the same as Chinese food, somehow, and then went home. And now I'm here, writing this post. There. Updated. 

Also green tea ice cream is the best thing ever, but you have to be careful with the packaging. Just because it's in a green container doesn't mean it's green tea-flavoured. Vanilla is really depressing when you're expecting green tea. 

On that note, I'm gonna go play cards. See ya.

Jen: Campus Days

Lately our schedules are too varied to make concrete plans or go anywhere so we've been making mini day trips around the area. Yesturday I did tonnes of laundry and went shopping with a girl in our group. I don't think I've ever done so much window shopping in my whole life! But in reality I've barely spent that much. Prolly about $150 Canadian but I've bought tonnes of souvenirs and enough food to feed and army and then some! The food is so unbelievably good! I even like the milk here. And I don't drink milk!

Today me and the Becca went back to a place called Frid Plaza. Or sometimes Fred. Depends what map you're looking at. That's China anyway. There are 3 and a half something floors and it sells everything except the kitchen sink. I'm surprised that I haven't come across any kitchen supplies stores. Hmm. But I guess a pot and pan wouldn't exactly fit in my suitcase. Hmmm.

Tomorrow is the opening ceremony of sports competitions and we are the last group to go around the field. Which means lots of standing. Oh goodie! I have not known this kind of foot pain. The Chinese must be super fit because they walk EVERYWHERE.

Jen: How We Snuck into a Ticket only Performance

Me and Rebecca definitely snuck into a concert tonight. My conversation partners wanted to see their friend dance so we followed them into the back row. Apparently others paid for seats and waited in line but we snuck in... I feel a little bad but we didn't event know it cost money until after the show. One of my partners was dancing and I was really impressed! Lots of traditional costumes and music. I really liked the Tibetan and Mongolian dances! I am always amazed at how talented Chinese people are. There was a little bit of Opera too!
I'm starting to befriend my group members which is really nice. I am closest to the two girls. They are adorable! Alice and Yuki. I can't wait to try Karaoke soon with them.
Next week is sports week so I might not have a meeting with them. It depends on the weather. The Chinese people work very hard and it pays off. I could learn a thing or two from them!

Delightfully yours,
Jen

Jen: Lost in Translation but not in Hangzhou

你好! It's getting warmer. I originally thought people were crazy for using umbrellas during the day but I found myself giving into it. Breakfast is really good here! And mega cheap too. I didn't think I'd be so overwhelmed by the choices of food! I've made it a goal to never eat the same food twice.

Yesturday me and Rebecca got verrrry verrry lost. We were following a group but then they wanted to keep going but we were tired. So we tried to get back. Tried. We walked for a good solid hour in the wrong area before we finally found our place. Ohmannnn.

Today's adventure was West Lake! I've been looking forward to this for a long time! Unfortunately by the time we got their our feet hurt so much we only walked about an hour or so in? I heard the other group went KTV aka Karaoke today. Another group went to West Lake and we actually ran into them! Funniest thing ever aha.

Laundry is fun. I do infact have to handwash and hang stuff outside my dorm. And I mean everything... Aya. Tis a lot of work. Never thought I'd miss washing macines so much. More people took a photo of me today. They think we don't see it. Other times I let them know that I know by smiling. Huehuehue.

Tomorrow we fly kites and learn about Chinese culture! Ime excited! Until next time,

Jennifer

Jen: I Could Definitely Live Here

So much has happened sonce the last post I don't even know where to start. China is best when you wander off the beaten path. (Don't worry mom I'm always with a group!) I've surprisingly not bought as much as I expected I would. Shopping here is a bit of a nightmare because people really want to sell to foreigners. Chinese people know just enough English to yell: "Hello lady, you want buy _____." And I know enough Mandarin to say "Too expensive, goodbye." It's a little overwhelming wheb everybody wants to sell you the exact same thing.
Me and Rebecca plan on going back to a little strip of malls on Tuesday becayse we both have the day off. Its suppose to be less busy on weedays.
The University has a cerfew of 10pm which is really interesting. The buses and subways all stop running after that for the most part. China really wants people to be inside the Higher Education Zone. The students have everything they need within the campus though. Tonnes of food, shops (that sell anything and everything), hospital, a movie theatre and a soon-to-be shopping mall. It legit has everything here on campus! It seems a little strange but China is a pretty smart country. This way not all of the students will be out late at night and they save $ on late subways and buses. And they don't have to leave campus for a lot of amenities. There are guards and signs with instructions everywhere but honestly it makes me feel safer! If only subway rides weren't so brutally long...

Rebecca: 生日快乐 (Shengrikuaile, Happy Birthday!)

We're at the university in Hangzhou right now (I think Jen mentioned this), and I'm honestly having a great time. I might never go back to Canada. :) The campus is beautiful; it really puts our school to shame. The weather is super nice too (I think I'm getting a tan)! We met some of our Chinese conversation partners today and went on a scavenger hunt, so we got to see a lot of the campus grounds. We also had our first class in basic Chinese (which was, as the name implies, pretty basic. We knew a lot of it already).
There was also this little thing that happened today that might have had something to do with me turning 20! ^_^ I had a fantastic birthday today, with much singing of Happy Birthday (in English and Mandarin) in embarrassingly public places. I really wasn't expecting anything, since this whole trip has basically been one big birthday gift so far, but Jen got me a little present and arranged a surprise cake in the cafeteria (she's not ALWAYS a mean person, haha). They had apparently ordered a cake with strawberries on it, but the bakery didn't have any, so my cake came with tomatoes on top instead. I'm not kidding! Cherry tomatoes! It was actually pretty good, though, and it was a good laugh!
We're getting the hang of living in China. The squatting toilets aren't as scary as they seem and we hung laundry on the balcony for the first time today (clothes dryers aren't really a thing here, so everyone hangs laundry everywhere). And we can order from shops and the cafeteria with only minimal difficulties (other than the plate of bone marrow I got. I didn't know, okay? It looked like beef!). And I think I'm addicted to green tea ice cream. The only thing I really miss about Canada is being able to brush my teeth with the tap water. Using bottled water is a bit of a hassle. 
Oh, and I guess I miss my family and friends too. A bit. :P

-Rebecca

Jen: I'm Famous! Only not...

Today was my first and so far only moment of fame in China. A group of students near the Frid Place kept looking at us and giggling. They really wanted a photo with us. We said it was fine aha. They looked Japanese tho. I was confused. Other than that we browsed like mad and I bought a few gifts for people back home! (Not saying who) ;)
Our room is super cozie and the beds are firm but huge! Guess what! Our main washroom is a squattie! I can deal with that tho. It's suppose to be a lot better for you anyway! And just imagine the quads and hamstrings I'll have when I'm back in Canada.
I absolutely love it here. It's a dream come true! I'm slowly starting to realize I'm a minority here (big surprise right?). Rebecca may make fun of me for it (when doesn't she make fun of me) but I keep feeling more concerned with how I'm affecting them than then them affecting me. If that doesn't make sense I can elaborate later. Time to do laundry in the sink!
Til next time!

Jen: Eating in the Caf. It's a process!

I'm all settled in at the University. It's so gorgeous I can't even breath! No that's not the pollution either. The uni has thr cutest little strip of stores ranging from haircuts to baozi. To bubble tea as well! It's so cool!

I've had my first meal on campus and lemme tell you... It's an ordeal!
No English anywhere! We had a team member w us that spoke some Mandarin but he couldn't read it. Gah. So here's the process:

1. Get in line and fight to the front
2. They ask if you want rice
3. I pointed to which buffet style item I wanted and said: 请你给我这个。 Please give me that. DIshes are set up in rows but some are too far to point to. I chose a bean and chicken one. Rebecca had chicken marrow. Kinda eeeps...
4. Then you put your meal card on a sensor and it takes off the balance you spent.
5. Take your tray and grab chopsticks from the large container.
6. Eat (duh)
7. Put your tray on the conveyor belt after wiping off excess food.
8. Throw chopsticks into bin.
9. Realize you could of had free soup and walk away full but sad. FREE SOUP.

Over all I looooooove loooooove looove China. This uni is overwhelming for now but I'm sure it will get easier soon!

I'll write about Shanghai adventures later!

Rebecca: Shanghai Days Again

Another super full day in Shanghai! Our days are actually all free - we don't have group activities, we all just run around Shanghai doing our own thing. Luckily we have a good guide in Jen's friend! We started early today, at 8:30 to go down to the Bund (the touristy place where our first adventure took place). We went down to the river to retake a picture one of our group members had taken when he was a little kid in China, so we had to try and find the exact location. A lot has changed in Shanghai in the last ten years, it seems, though we found the place in the end! We ate brunch at a restaurant there and then went back to the hostel (this is sort of boring, I realize, but I'm too tired to do the usual big-words-and-fancy-phrasing thing). 

Jen, Steven (another of our group members) and I met up with Jen's friend Zach again and jumped on a bus for an hour (somehow you can drive for an hour and not leave Shanghai) to go to a little water town district called Zhu Jia Jiao, which is super fun to say. :) A water town is like mini-Venice: traditional buildings and with canals instead of streets. We took a boat tour, then strolled around on foot. The best adventure we had was going to a little restaurant on the waterfront, which was definitely not tourist-oriented. We asked for a menu, and quickly realized it was all Chinese. We asked for an English menu, which we got, but it was really outdated (like, half the items were no longer available) and really, really Engrishy. The best item on it was probably the "meat is embeded" :D, though we didn't order it. We managed to order a couple dishes (though at one point we were told "there is no rice". This turned out to be false, but it was still a little surprising. I mean, we're in China. How is there no rice?), and they tasted pretty good. Lotus root, Chinese eggplant and amaranth (maybe? I'm still not really sure what I ate today) were pretty good, and of course fried rice is delicious. 

See, at first when we touched down in China, I was pretty food-paranoid. I thought "okay, I'll be really safe and only eat at nicer restaurants and Western places so I don't get sick". It took about one day for that all to go out the window. Now I'm eating random street food and any number of unidentifiable things we find. If I get sick, well... I got vaccines before I left, and I've got medicine. As much as I hate the saying, you only live once! 

(Calm down, Mom. I haven't totally thrown my common sense out the window. I brush my teeth with bottled water and I carry hand sanitizer everywhere. I don't want to die.)

So basically we did way more stuff in these last two days than I thought I'd ever do in a year, and it's been super super super. I'm having the time of my life. Tomorrow we leave Shanghai to go to the university in Hangzhou, so we'll see how the trip goes from there. I'm really excited to meet the students and see the campus!

Oh, one more fun thing that happened! Steven and I were waiting for Jen and Zach in the subway, and a random dude came up to us and started speaking in Mandarin. Steven speaks Mandarin, so he tried to translate it for me later, but it was pretty confusing. The guy wanted our help with something because his parents died or something? He started off by saying something like "I'm not lying", so he was probably pretty trustworthy, right? Steven told him no, we couldn't help him, and then the guy turns to me as if I've understood the whole thing! He pretty much stared at me until I said "I don't know" (which is about the extent of my Mandarin), and then he left. It was pretty weird. Good times in the Shanghai subway!

-Rebecca

Rebecca: Shanghai Days

First full day in Shanghai! It probably goes down as one of the best days of my life. We met up with a friend of Jen's studying in Shanghai for the year, which was really cool. He showed us around, so we got to see a lot of stuff. I honestly don't even know where to start. We went by about six million different street stalls, selling everything from clothes to knickknacks to food. And tons of knockoff designer stuff, which is sold at inflated prices. It's expected that you barter with the seller, but it's a little scary when you don't really know how. I thought I did a good job, but maybe I still got ripped off? If you turn them down after a bit of haggling and leave the store, they will chase after you with a better price, which was only mildly terrifying. 

We ate lunch at a place called - wait for it - More Than Toilet. It's a toilet-themed restaurant in a district called Tianzifang, and the food is really good! I ate something called honey toast, which is like a big cube of sweet bread, and it comes with toppings like ice cream, fruit or chocolate. Then we wandered around the city (for a looooong time, my feet are killing me), going to parks and to a little museum, and eventually found ourselves away from the touristy parts of Shanghai and into the real city. The streets there were more like narrow alleys, with people frying food and selling it off little carts. I got over my food fears pretty quick and ate some street food, which was great! I love bao zi, which is like a steamed bun with different fillings. I like sesame paste filling, because it tastes a little bit like peanut butter. 

I also got a bottle of iced tea with Avril Lavigne on it. Little weird - apparently she's big in China. So basically a very full day with lots of adventure! 

Rebecca: First Impressions

Hello patient readers! Sorry for not updating in the first few days; apparently blogspot is blocked by the Great Firewall of China (that's what it's called, really!), so we've been forced to use some sketchy workarounds. Don't ask. That means I could technically access facebook, but I want to use our workaround as little as possible (it's, well, less-than-legal) so I probably won't. I've been writing up about our days, so I'll just start posting those and you can wade through them at your leisure (I'm starting to realize I make these things way too long).

Day 1: First Impressions
We've arrived in China, all safe and with our luggage intact! My first impressions of China - just looking out the window of the plane - were "it's so green" and "there is no sky". We're in Shanghai right now, and for being such an urban sprawl there's a lot of greenery. It's a different kind of green from Canada, though. It's a lush, waxy sort of green, which makes sense, I guess. China is very humid and more tropical-ish than Canada. As for the sky, it's definitely there, it just looks... off, to me. The sun was shining brightly when we landed, but the sky was a sort of grey-white colour. All the smog makes it like that, I guess. It just looked so strange because I'm used to these big, blue prairie skies that stretch on forever. Here, the sky is kind of low and... thick, I guess.

Basically, China is wildly different from anywhere I've ever been, and Shanghai is the sort of city I've only ever seen in movies. There are towering hotels and office buildings next to run-down shacks, villas next to abandoned warehouses, and everything lights up at night. The people are like that too - people in tailored suits next to people literally begging on the streets. It was incredible and terrifying and overwhelming all at once, especially for a small-town girl. 

That's not to say I'm not enjoying it, though. Jen and I had our first adventure already! Our group went out to explore the town, and as it turned out there was some sort of holiday going on today. Which means that a lot of people were in Shanghai with the same idea as us. Let me clarify that: by "a lot of people" I mean "a LOT of people". Like, A LOT. The most people I've ever seen in one place before was at a Chicago White Sox game, and I was pretty impressed by that. This was entirely different. It was like a White Sox game at every intersection. It was less of a "wow, I'm surprised there are this many people in this city" and more of a "wow, I'm surprised there are this many people in the WORLD." There are also apparently no traffic rules. People, cars, bikes and mopeds just go wherever they want, whenever they want, honking and shouting all the way. Sidewalks are irrelevant; walking in the middle of the street is apparently normal. So all of this culminated in both Jen and me being separated from our group in this mass of people - and we didn't even get separated together. Both of us had independent moments of "I do not recognize anyone on this street anymore", and I nearly got run over by a moped. Luckily, we managed to find each other and make our way back to the hostel by ourselves.

(Why do I post these things? My mother is going to flip. I promise I'm fine, Mom! I knew where I was the whole time, I just didn't know where anyone else was.)

Also, I haven't slept in something like 24 hours (planes are not conducive to sleeping), so I'm going to crash now (er, no pun intended? Plane... crash... get it? No? Okay...).

tl;dr: We're alive and in Shanghai!

-Rebecca

Jen: The first day and I nearly die...

Not trying to scare anyone and do not be alarmed I am back at my hostel safe and sound but OH MY GOODNESS. The amount of people I saw tonight. We got into China on a festival or holiday or something so EVERYONE and I mean EVERYONE was at The Bund. It was kinda scary. At one point I did get seperated from the group and couldn't even find Rebecca. After 5 seconds of panic I saw Rebecca and we bought water and went homeeeee.
The plane ride was reeeeeeally long and they were bent on feeding us every 4 hours I was so full. I've officially been up for 24 hours+ so I'll end this here and go to beeeeeeed.