Sofi's China Trip

Sofi Here. I spent July 14-29 in China with a school group from the United States.  Twenty-four students from southern Oregon joined a larger group of 600 Americans in China.  The photo shows our group in Tian an men Square in Beijing.  We had 2 teachers as chaperones-- Steve and Mr. Hartman. 

Beijing had skyscrapers and smog, but the spaces between the buildings were filled with beautiful gardens.  The weather was hot and humid.

A huge part of our experience was eating Chinese food.  We ate a lot of different foods.  Sometimes it was better not to ask what we were eating.  We called it food roulette.  Foods I liked: apple cake for breakfast, ice cream, watermelon, noodle soup, won ton soup.  Foods I didn't like: bean paste (hidden in everything--even ice cream!), bones in meat, lemon chicken (bland, neon sauce), McDonald's cheeseburgers- Chinese style, yogurt- Chinese style, strawberry vinegar drink.  Strangest food I tried: duck feet-- thumbs down.  One thing I really liked was the service at restaurants.  The waiters would put the dishes on a lazy susan in the middle of the table so you could try little tastes of everything.  The photo below was taken at our first real Chinese meal in Guilin.

We spent most of our time at Guangxi Normal University.  We lived in dorms and had a whole bunch of different classes including Chinese knots, calligraphy and Kung Fu.  Here Tannar and I are being super ninja.

We visited a tea farm.  We wore awesome hats to go out in the fields to look at the tea plants.  We saw the preparation process and got to go to a tea ceremony which was very, very, very fancy.  Everyone else tried three different types of tea.  Coral is the girl in the photo.

We visited the Reed Flute caves which are these beautiful, ginormous caverns which stretch for miles underground.  I didn't get any good photos inside the caves, but here's a photo with me, Michael, Tannar, Coral and Xin outside the caves.

I made a whole bunch of friends, both from my group and from others. Our group of friends was definitely the most fun. We did all sorts of random things including dancing to 'Thriller' by Michael Jackson, making a huge blanket fort, and puddle jumping in a huge rainstorm. In this picture, we had decided that one of our friends from New Jersey--Michael--looked like a greek god. Then we waited for a half hour in the lobby for him to get back from shopping with his group so we could make him pose with a bunch of grapes. 

"I'm flying, Jack, I'm flying!"   We went on a boat tour of the beautiful Li river on the 22nd. Naturally, when we saw the large open decks of our boat, we immediately thought of the most famous boat in history, and rushed to take pictures of each other 'Titanic-ing'

Here's a picture that I took from the boat of the famous Guilin scenery. The mountains were absolutely surreal! Add some mist, a river, trees, and the occasional water buffalo, and you had the most picturesque landscape in existence.

The day after the boat tour, we got to have a dinner with a Chinese family. We were all invited to various homes by the volunteers who helped us around the university. The girl who invited me's name was Star. She also invited several of her friends and it turned into a party. We had a great time playing games and talking about differences between Chinese and American culture.

A group of us learned a traditional Chinese dance to perform at the closing ceremonies in Beijing. Though the dance was kinda slow and not very interesting, we had a lot of fun with the brightly colored costumes and the little balls we wore around our necks. Our dance instructor, Xin, was amazing!

This is me, Tannar, and Kate after the closing ceremonies in Guilin with two of the volunteers. We were all very sad to be leaving all of our friends in China, and made sure to exchange as many emails and facebook names as possible. (btw, if you're thinking that the girl on the far left looks like the mom on the Incredibles, You're not the only one)

After leaving Guilin, we went back to Beijing for a few days to tour around. Although the hospitality left something to be desired, (horrible food, bedbugs, squat toilets, and unfriendly staff) the sightseeing opportunity was amazing! In this picture, we visited the Lama Temple, which was a beautiful Bhuddist temple full of huge statues of Bhuddas like this one.

The crowning moment of the trip was our visit to the great wall of China.  There is a saying in China that a man becomes a hero once he climbs the great wall. (Idk what that means for us girls.)  The part that we visited was basically one giant, super steep stairway, so climbing it definitely felt like a feat.  I celebrated afterwards with some ice cream.  The entire China trip was super duper amazing, and I am totally planning to go back several times in the future.

The minute I got to the airport, I was swarmed by Abe, Helen, Gibson, and my best friend, Joey. It feels sooo amazing to be back home with everyone again!