The Final Leg

This has been one hectic week. Because I am leaving a day before the program officially ends, I took all of my exams and had all of my deadlines today. This included writing a paper for Business Chinese for Success and completing written tests for my other two classes. Cramming everything into these last four days has been pretty rough, but I'm glad to be done with it now! 

I haven't really been doing anything too exciting recently, but my roommate and I went to Zoo Coffee to celebrate (sort of); thus, I leave you with one final food picture:

Cake waffles

I'm in a bit of a rush to finish packing and get my room sorted out, so I won't be able to reflect too much right now, but this has been an extraordinary experience. Being in Beijing this summer has really helped me grow, not just as a student but as a citizen of society. I feel as if I can't adequately put in words how much this summer has changed me - from allowing me to get a better sense of mature "independent" (even though I had roommates) living to giving me the tools to improve my Chinese ability to opening my eyes to the various fascinating characteristics of Chinese society. To have this amazing opportunity to understand and appreciate Chinese culture is extraordinary, and I am so extremely grateful to the Light Fellowship for making this possible. 

The Beijing Color Run

This past week (the 7th week of class - jeez! so fast!) was like any other; nothing super eventful happened at IUP. I'm definitely starting to miss home, though. This week, I realized that I've been making a mental calendar and ticking down the days one by one as they passed. 

I wouldn't really call it homesickness though, but sometimes you just need a little taste of home. And what luck! Today was the first Beijing Color Run! It was awesome!!!

Let me paint the picture for you. It is a hot August day in one of the most polluted cities in the world. AQI is -- I forget what it is number-wise, but definitely in the hazardous zone. It is also 3:30 PM, probably the hottest hour of this hot August day (in one of the most polluted cities in the world, mind you). Everywhere around you, you see hoards and hoards of people proudly wearing "Color Run" t-shirts and other theme-related garb. 

For those that are unfamiliar with the concept, the premise of the Color Run is fairly straightforward. You run a 5k and at the end of every k, you get color thrown on you (either in the form of paint or corn starch powder or other whatnots). Beijing's Color Run is pretty historic because it is the first Color Run in all of Asia! 

Color warriors!

I have always wanted freckles...

The ride back on the subway was hilarious. The run was held at the Beijing Garden Expo, which is about an hour and a half away from the Wudaokou subway station (the stop closest to my apartment). The first couple of stops leaving from the garden expo were alright -- there were hoards of us together on the subway, and people had a pretty good idea what we were doing. However, as we got closer and closer to inner Beijing, as the crowds of color-ridden people dispersed to their various destinations, the horrified and interested stares became more and more commonplace.

Anyhow, this was definitely a fun thing to do! The rest of this weekend will be spent studying for finals, which are (gasp!) in a week! Ahhh! 

The Beijing Vertical Run and Tianjin Part II

What a great weekend this was! Hope everyone's weekend was as good, if not better, than mine was!

Early June, I signed up for the Beijing Vertical Run, which is a race up 86 flights of stairs in Beijing's new World Trade Center Hotel. Friday evening, I went to the hotel to pick up my registration packet and to check out the course. The hotel is absolutely beautiful! And really really tall! The race was on Saturday, and because it was a stair race, they broke us up into different groups, which staggered every 5 minutes. I ran in the 11:10 group. 

Bring it on, stairs. 

Right before starting the race.

Right after finishing the race!

After the stair run, I went home, showered, packed an overnight bag, and took the train to Tianjin! Whoohoo! When I got there, we had dinner and then went to ride the Tianjin ferris wheel, the largest ferris wheel in Asia (and, as my friends snickered, the only thing worth going to Tianjin for).

Before getting in line to see ride the ferris wheel, my cousin and I lit a couple of lanterns by the river. It was really a beautiful sight, as many couples, tourists, and other passersby held their lanterns, made a wish, and sent the paper light off into the sky. 

A nice man helping me light the lantern.

How romantic! 

Holding up the ferris wheel. I work out.

On Sunday, my cousin and I went on another very interesting adventure: escape the room. I don't know if you're familiar with these "escape from the room" games, but I first heard of them as being an online game. Usually with some kind of sinister or horror backdrop, you're stuck inside a room and you have to click around and find various objects and clues to put together in order to you guessed it! escape from the room. Well, what we played in Tianjin was like the live version of that. It was AWESOME. You are stuck in a series of rooms with a number of other people (or by yourself, if that's your preference; in our case, it was just my cousin and me), and you have to look for objects and clues scattered around the room in order to unlock the door leading to the next room. Continue doing this for all of the rooms in the set, and voila! The place we went to was called "Mr. X". 

Victory is ours! (After 2 hours of crawling around red-light lit rooms and screaming far too many times than was necessary)

I love weekends in China. I'm really going to miss this! 

The 6th Week Milestone

Today was extremely productive and fun (don't ya love it when that happens)! The Friday of the 6th week at IUP is, by tradition, oral presentation day. All of the IUP students are required to make an oral presentation (from memory, but the teachers are really understanding if you get too nervous and need to look at a script) that lasts between 4-10 minutes. You get to choose your own topic, you're allowed to use a powerpoint, and you can present with a partner (although you will then have to do a longer presentation). The presentations were all really interesting (oh, and you're required to attend at least 3 other people's presentations) - some were extremely personal and charismatic while others discussed topics pertinent to modern China.

If there's one thing I learned about myself through this program, it's that I really need to start procrastinating less. I didn't start memorizing my presentation until last night, and this morning, when I got up to speak, I could feel myself stumbling around what should have been familiar idioms and expressions and unclear trains of thought. Note to self -- memorizing a speech is difficult; memorizing a speech in an entirely foreign language is very very very difficult. 

After the speeches, a few friends and I went to the Beijing zoo! I hadn't been to the Beijing zoo since I was about 5 or 6 years old, and I was so excited to see the different exhibits. The zoo, like all of Beijing, was packed with people (of course), and since we got there rather late in the afternoon, we didn't get a chance to see all of the exhibits before they closed. However, we did manage to see monkeys and gorillas and giraffes and many many other animals (missed the pandas though, which was disappointing). 

Storks and friends! My favorite combination! 

Representing everywhere we go. Can you guess what we're spelling?

Later that evening, my roommates and I went out for dinner to send off one of our roommates who is leaving tomorrow morning. Nothing like great food and greater company to end your evening!