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CFTF: The Nanjing ChroniclesTopic%20Title
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So moe for Makoto it's funny.

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Lololol I'm IN CHINA holy crap. Ack

Day 1 (approximately)
New York -> Hong Kong -> Nanjing

The flight was a plane flight. Entirely too long, and from Vancouver on, I was crammed against the window with two big guys next to me. So, I didn’t do much other than try and nap all the flight, listen to my music, etc. All in all, not as bad as it could have been, but it was certainly a relief to land in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong airport is big, and really, really cool. It seems outwardly to be structured like a series of giant airport hangers, but it’s very nice and air-conditioned and clean inside. There’s one huge hall that connects where you go through security / get off the plane to the rest of the terminals. I got to go online for a bit, check in with the family, et cetera. It’s about 8 AM HK time, no clue what time I’m running on, but might as well call it breakfast as anything else. I eat at a ramen fast food place, it’s pretty good… head over to the terminal. I see a fairly American-looking guy on his laptop taking advantage of the free wireless all through the airport, and wonder if he’s CIEE as well.

He’s sitting right behind me on the flight (which is pretty empty, we both have rows to ourselves) and it turns out he is. He’s Brett, from University of Washington in Seattle, though he himself is from San Diego. Nice guy, we chat a lot as we fly to Nanjing. When the food lady comes, we both order some Tsingtao beer as our first taste of Chinese alcohol.

It’s… pretty awful. Yeah. Might as well get used to it, though.

Pretty easy flight, I start reading the Iron Rooster book on the way over. By the time we land, I actually haven’t gotten to the part where the guy’s in China yet, so… yeah. We fly in, and it’s very hazy, but what we can see—ramshackle huts, rice paddies—certainly doesn’t look like a city of millions and millions of people. I wasn’t sure quite what I was expecting, but I guess I was expecting a lot more hustle and bustle and chaos at Nanjing Airport. Actually, it was pretty small and quiet. Brett and I go through immigration together, wait for our bags together—it takes a while for my bag and his second bag to come, and there are a TON of bags on the carousel, so when he goes to get his, one of the seams splits. Ironically, it was the seam covering his masking tape, so no harm done.

We meet up with Pingping, who’s like our… not sure what she does entirely. She’s not quite a teacher, but she’s older than a student. She’s really adorable and nice, though. There are also two others: Laura from Rice University (Houston) and Christine from Columbia in NYC. Christina has been spending time with her family in Hong Kong for the Chinese New Year, and we’re jealous.

Pingping packs us into a rented cab that we barely fit into with our bags, and sends the four of us off. Nanjing proper is a ways away, it’s about a half hour drive. Everything’s very brown and quiet, and there seems to be a weird melancholy over the place. There’s an absolutely MASSIVE building—a plant of some sort?—with a deserted parking lot that we pass… kind of foreboding. Thankfully, Nanjing itself is a lot busier, even in the silence and inactivity of the New Year holiday vacation.

China is a really fascinating juxtaposition of new and old, and Nanjing—one of the oldest cities in the world—really embodies that. You can still see the old city walls that have been left up; these giant monolithic stones in front of gleaming skyscrapers. There’s some really pretty scenery around, and I have a hunch that Nanjing will be absolutely gorgeous come spring. I guess I’ll find out, huh.

We make our way to Nanda (Nanjing Daxue) where we get our keys to our rooms… our Chinese roommates won’t arrive for another week and a half, so we have time to get settled. Our rooms are… well, they’re like small hotel rooms, which is kind of nice. Although, the bed, while clean… is really, REALLY hard and uncomfortable. Might go buy some padding for that later.

The four of us meet up with Theron and Melinda, who’ve been there for a year. With another non-CIEE student, we go out to a Muslim restaurant, and it’s goooood stuff. Some pretty cool people. Afterwards, we go back… it’s about 7:00, we’re hanging out, trying to leech what little wireless we can (with varying degrees of success). I’m finally feeling the jet lag hit me, and so about 8:00, I retire onto those really hard beds. Sleep comes pretty quickly, which is nice, considering we have to be up for an 8 AM meeting tomorrow…
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Re: CFTF: The Nanjing ChroniclesTopic%20Title
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So moe for Makoto it's funny.

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Day 2

The day started early, as my little travel alarm clock was set to go off at 7:10. However, due to the fact that I crashed at just around 8 PM the night before and the fact that my bed’s mattress was only slightly more comfortable than a plank of concrete, I found myself awake at 5 in the morning. After unsuccessful attempts to get back to sleep, I went into the bathroom and started the water heater. It takes about half an hour for it to warm up enough so that you have anything more than barely tepid water to wash with, but time was pretty abundant.

Also, uh, I don’t know Celsius very well, so it was a mite hotter than expected. After showering, there was a problem—I’d forgotten to pack towels. So I used a T-shirt in lieu of a towel, and it worked… passably.

At 8 PM we headed downstairs for the beginning of our orientation. In addition to everyone I’d met before, there were new people:

Diana, from some small university in Orange County, CA. Yoshiko, a Spanish/Japanese girl from the same one. James/Jim, who… I can’t remember where he went to school, but he’s from Ohio. Chris, who goes to school in Ohio, but lives somewhere else. Max, who goes to Columbia University, Stephen who goes to school at Georgetown. Later on there would also be Damon, who is from somewhere I forget, and Lindsey, who goes to University of Iowa.

The orientation was pretty cool, a lot of it was just about the many, many dangers to be encountered in Nanjing and China. Nothing we’d not heard before, really. It’s kind of amusing how many different legitimate operations you have sex shops posing as—karaoke bars, hair salons, massage parlors, etc.

Afterwards, Pingping and Tang-laoshi showed us around the surrounding area, the Bank of China, the majority of the (absolutely gorgeous) NanDa campus, and so on. We then went to have a buffet lunch at a nearby hotel, sort of an introduction. There was… some pretty cool food. Pigs’ feet, entire little silver fish on sticks (I stayed away from those), normal food such as oysters, some great veggie dishes. Actually, I don’t even remember what I had but it was pretty good.

I had… a mixture of lamb and beef, and they still had the bones in the little chunks of meat. Certainly an interesting surprise. Lots of good food.

Also, being able to legally drink is awesome. This would be a continuing theme of the day.

There was a little shopping market nearby called Suguo. Stephen, who was clearly shaping up to be the clown of the group (and an absolutely hilarious one), dubbed it Segue/Segway, however you choose to pronounce it. Me, Stephen, Brett, and Chris (or maybe just chris… or Brett. One of the two) went to the Segway to buy, among other things, bath towels. Hooray for towels.

Afterwards, we went back to the dorm and kind of chilled for a bit. I met up with Diana and Yoshiko, and the three of us went out to this nearby (5 minute walk or so) café called the New Magazine Café. Slightly pricy (for China), but a wonderful cozy atmosphere, good coffee/tea, and free wireless. We hung out there for about an hour and a half, just chatting and surfing the internet. Diana’s a sociology major, and wants to work on reforming how people teach. Interesting girl, that one.

It was actually her 21st birthday the day before, so we tried to organize like a big Karaoke thing for the night. It… didn’t QUITE happen, really. Miscommunication and all that. Diana and Yoshiko went out after we got back to go try and find a used bike shop, a few other people went out to meet… other people. About eight of us went for dinner, and we found this nice cozy little Korean joint. Great food, even though I can’t remember what it was, exactly. Not that I knew at the time, either.

We got a bit more beer, about six bottles for all of us. After dinner, we went to Behind the Wall, which is this Mexican/Italian place (surprisingly good food, actually). I got some sangria (AMAZING there, which was pretty surprising). We all got some kamikaze shots, and decided to head back to Pingping’s place (with Kellend, who was a former CIEE student but dropped out of the program to just enroll at NanDa proper as an exchange student this semester). Accompanied, of course, by a box of cheap Tsingtao beer, and my own personal bottle of awful, AWFUL Chinese wine.

Hilarity would ensue. Seriously, it was quite a bit of fun, but I returned with a few people on the early side, just after midnight, because we had a “placement test” tomorrow—even though Pingping, Theron, and Melinda said it honestly didn’t matter.

Quite a fun time.


Day 3:

Not much to say. Placement test was ludicrously hard, but it was supposed to be. EVERYONE thought so, even Theron and Melinda who’ve been here for six months already. More orientation about the rules and stuff of the program, we talk briefly about how the classes are going to work. After that, it’s a pretty relaxing day. We mainly hang out at the dorm and chill, but me, Chris, and Lindsey go out to Segway to buy school supplies since we think class starts the next day (though it’s actually Tuesday). Afterwards, Chris heads back to meet up with people, and Lindsey and I go to Behind the Wall.

She’s uber-stressed because she hasn’t spoken Chinese or studied it in two years, so I order some sangria at her request to help relax. We pretty much just hang out all evening and talk, she’s lots of fun. She hikes and plays ultimate Frisbee, too, so that’s some more in common right there (since Brett and Chris both like hiking, I hope we can find a place around here). It really is nice to have someone around my level in Chinese, though I have a hunch I’ll get a lot better fast.

After she retires, Stephen and I go buy another box of Tsingtao, and there’s a super mini-party in his room, because he picked up some speakers and a subwoofer for his computer. After only a beer, I’m pretty tuckered out—so it’s back to the slab-of-wood that I call a bed.
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Re: CFTF: The Nanjing ChroniclesTopic%20Title
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So moe for Makoto it's funny.

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Pictures!

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/3508/dinner1zi1.jpg

Brett, Melinda (and I think that's theron in the background) at Behind the Wall.


http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/623/dinner2pq5.jpg

Christine, Chris, and Laura, also at Behind the Wall.


http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/7063/toastgw0.jpg

Toasting, right before downing the Kamikazes. That's Stephen in the foreground, with Theron right under his arm, and... I think it's Kellend down at the right.


http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/2905/pi...ngparty1al3.jpg

At Pingping's. From left to right: Ping Ping, Max, Christine, Theron.


http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/3209/pi...ngparty2kk4.jpg

Jim, Chris, and Stephen (from left to right) open the Tsingtao beers.


http://img356.imageshack.us/img356/6166/pi...ngparty3lk5.jpg

Laura, Chris, and Damon all chilling on the couch.


http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/1726/st...nisdrunkwf0.jpg

Stephen is happy. Or drunk. Or both.


http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/6972/kellendbrettte4.jpg

Kellend and Brett actually knew each other from school back in the states. Ain't it cute?


http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/5613/brettdrinkshg5.jpg

Brett enjoys some shitty Chinese beer.

http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/25/funkwinewigqn7.jpg

I enjoy shitty Chinese wine. Like, REALLY shitty. Also, don't ask about the wig.
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Re: CFTF: The Nanjing ChroniclesTopic%20Title
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Master of sharp things!

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Heh, seems like you're getting off to a good start. A drunk start, but good nonetheless. Hobohodo


Just to ask, did you ever get to play your DS on the flight, or were you too cramped up to do so? Oh, and what's with the wig? >_>;
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Re: CFTF: The Nanjing ChroniclesTopic%20Title

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Re: CFTF: The Nanjing ChroniclesTopic%20Title
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So moe for Makoto it's funny.

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Oh, I got to play EBA. IT was fun! Lots of fun!

I decided I'd want to save Hotel Dusk for another travel opportunity, since I heard it was kind of puzzle-licious and I wanted to be awake for it. >.>
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Re: CFTF: The Nanjing ChroniclesTopic%20Title

Just for you Baki. can you marry me now?

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Man I wish I was you. Edgeworth Sounds like you're having fun. Also, is Lindsey your "special someone"? Pearl Just kidding.
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Re: CFTF: The Nanjing ChroniclesTopic%20Title
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So moe for Makoto it's funny.

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I've known her for three days :P She's cool, though.


Day 4:

Thankfully, we got to sleep in today for a bit. At 10, we had to go down to meet the dean of foreign students and some of our professors-to-be. The dean spoke a bit, I understood maybe 10%, but luckily Tang-laoshi translated. Yadda yadda, Nanjing University is awesome, yep. It didn’t last that long, the teachers seemed like cool people, and afterwards we had total free time.

Damon, Lindsey, and myself decided to go get cell phones, because… well, they make things easier. It was a bit of a walk, though the weather was nice and it was cool to get out and explore Nanjing. Sunny day, kind of warm, but a welcome change from the overcast haze of the past few days. Damon had spent the past semester studying Chinese in Taiwan, so he was very much crucial. Lindsey and I both got the cheapest model phone we could find (380Y), it was slightly hectic but I’m glad I did that.

Afterwards, we decided to go get lunch. We had no idea where any restaurants were, so we just started walking in one direction—it looked like there was a high school of some sort nearby, since there were a bunch of kids in school uniforms. It was their lunch break or something… we ended up going to this little hole in the wall where we were seated at this tiny table in the cramped back room as the cooks scurried back and forth outside. We got a simple lunch—rice with sliced beef/veggies, but it was filling and tasty and only cost 5Y apiece. We went back to the dorm, where we chilled out for a while. That night, we and a bunch of non-CIEE students went back to Behind the Wall for one last night of revelry before classes started for us.


Day 5:

Up at 7:15, take a lukewarm shower, grab my books (scurry downstairs and across the street to nab some sort of crackers as a sort of pseudo-breakfast) and head to class. I’m in B-level, unsurprisingly—with Brett, Yoshiko, Jim, Christine, Diana, and Lindsey. First up is the spoken Chinese class, with Guo-laoshi. She’s a very nice lady, doesn’t speak too quickly, so I actually understand a surprising amount of what she’s saying. It seems like this class is right at my level, which is something to be damn thankful for. We also get a 10-minute break halfway through, so the hour+fifty minutes don’t seem too excruciatingly long.

Afterwards, there’s the written class. It’s all simplified characters; Brett and I pretty much only know traditional, so we get stuck sometimes, but hell, they really are a lot easier. Cao-laoshi is a very funny man who’s taught in America at Grinnell and Middlebury, he also seems like a cool teacher. Not too much homework on the first day, and every Thursday after this one, in the speech class, we’ll be watching movies, so that’s kinda cool.

All the students in the A-class are absolutely overwhelmed, so I’m rather glad I’m not up there.

Otherwise, it’s a lazy day with studying in the mix afterwards, but some of us go out for dinner at this place that a few of them had gone to the night before. Some of the dishes aren’t so great (eggplant, for once, is rather “meh,” and I have the misfortune of nabbing a big piece of fat instead of meat when they brought the beef, which turned me off that dish, and there was a vegetable thing we got that tasted like grass) but the eggs+tomatoes are yummy. Really yummy.


Day 6:

Class again. This time, we have written first. Still like the teacher, still understanding more than I’d expected to. Class is class, both spoken and written. We get the itinerary for the weekend’s trip to, among other things, the Shaolin Kung-Fu Temple. Pretty cool.

After class, Yoshiko, Diana, Lindsey and myself head out for lunch and also to get some of the pictures for our camera scavenger hunt (just a bit of silliness, but it gets us acquainted with the surrounding area and it’s kinda fun). We eat lunch at this little restaurant about a ten-minute walk away, and though the noodles are bland and the chicken, though tasty, is impossible to eat due to all the bones, the eggplant and dumplings are nothing short of divine.

Quite sated, we go to a nearby bank so Lindsey can get some money, though upon seeing the line we decide to screw it—and as it’s starting to rain, we get some more pictures and start to head back. We pass a fish market, where, among other things, I see frogs and eels awaiting the slaughter… there’s also a fish being gutted, whose severed head is still moving and flopping around. Sort of disturbing.

We visit a DVD shop, and I pick up the Chris Eccleston series of Doctor Who, because hell, it’s Doctor Who. After coming back, we split up and I spend the next few hours studying vocabulary. It’s raining pretty hard, so I go out for dinner by myself to a small restaurant across the street. Come back, study some more, but now I’m all studied out. Planning on watching some Doctor Who with Lindsey in about half an hour, then sleeping. Sleep is good.
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Re: CFTF: The Nanjing ChroniclesTopic%20Title
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Sounds like you're having a good time there thus far. :^) Movies on Thursdays? How cool is that? :^)

Anyway, good luck with school and thanks for sharing your adventures. :^)
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Re: CFTF: The Nanjing ChroniclesTopic%20Title

"What is this...?"

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Wow- sounds fun. So you enrolled in a Chinese university? Or is it some kind of arrangement with a US university where you can study here to be immersed in a Chinese-language environment?

BTW- if you're going to be buying pirated DVDs and CDs, there IS a way to get those past Customs when you return Wellington .
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Sounds like you're having a good time. Phoenix

I'd love to hear a little more about the Shaolin Temple when you go. I've heard it's supposed to be really beautiful. And the people who train there seem to be really friendly (and strange). :P
Re: CFTF: The Nanjing ChroniclesTopic%20Title
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I'm technically enrolled in NanDa.

Shaolin temple was pretty awesome. You've never lived until you've played hacky-sack with a shaolin monk!
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Re: CFTF: The Nanjing ChroniclesTopic%20Title
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Shaolin Hacky-Sack Edition


Day 7:

Wake up as usual, class as usual, nothing particularly new there. After class, I did a bit of snack shopping, because we’d be taking a 9-hour train ride to Luoyang that night, and it’d be nice to have some munches and drinks. We met up in the lobby at three and took a bus to the Nanjing Train Station. It’s pretty big, but since there were a lot of people there, it’s also very crowded. The big rooms where people sit were pretty dirty, and China certainly manages to have some of the more unique odors I’ve ever experienced in my life. Still, it’s the authentic Chinese experience, so I don’t suppose I can complain.

We wait for about an hour, and I don’t know why we got there so early (perhaps our train was delayed?). When it comes time to board, there’s a massive rush… the Chinese really don’t have a concept of a line, really. It’s more of a suggestion than anything else. After the mass chaos of many people trying to squeeze through a small chokepoint, we finally get onto the train. It’s pretty much identical to the one I rode from Chengdu to Beijing; not very nice but not the pits, either. I have the bottom bunk for once, so everyone’s sitting on my bed and chatting.

We talk and talk, about various things—not much else to do on the train. I listen to music, I loan my DS to Lindsey so she can play Phoenix Wright, we chat and yap and get to know each other better. There are cool people on this trip.

Not much to say about the train ride other than it’s long but not intolerable. I try to get a bit of sleep and don’t entirely succeed before we’re at Luoyang, it’s 1:30 AM, and we get off. We meet our tour guide (who stays with us for the entire time, interestingly enough)… she’s in her mid-twenties, and absolutely ADORABLE. Seriously, she’s just wonderful and cute and all of that good stuff.

Our hotel is pretty nice, though there’s difficulty figuring out how to turn the lights on. The beds are slightly nicer than the dorms, but I’m so tired I don’t really care.


Day 8:

Wake-up call comes at 8. It’s me and Jim in the room, he uses the bathroom first while I catch a few more moments of sleep. He’s done, he can’t figure out how to make the bathtub turn into the shower, and after a few minutes of trying, neither can I. I feel sort of grody from the train, though, so there’s always improvisation. Meaning, in this case, squatting below the bathtub faucet and having it act like a shower.

We eat a pretty good breakfast before heading out on a decently long bus ride to Bai Ma Shi, or White Horse Temple… the first Buddhist temple in all of China. It’s named so because of the white Arabian horse that bore the scriptures there in the first place. It’s really beautiful, with some gorgeous sculptures of Buddha, wonderful classic Chinese architecture, and just a really pervading feeling of serenity. There’s also the oldest pagoda in all of China, which is pretty cool.

Afterwards, we check out a greenhouse, which has lots of pretty flowers but is otherwise rather boring. Then, it’s lunchtime, at a nearby restaurant. Gotta say, not a fan of squid. Not the taste so much as the texture—it feels like eating hard bubble gum. It’s still a yummy lunch (as is the standard, so it seems) and is quite filling. After that, we head to the other side of Luoyang, where we check out these old Buddhist shrine-caves carved into a cliff-side.

It’s cold, but we’re doing a lot of walking so you don’t really notice. The caves are really impressive especially considering their age, but the most mindboggling thing is the gigantic Buddha in this large recess in the cliff. There had to have been an immense amount of stone removed just to create the large alcove it’s in, let alone carving the actual sculptures themselves. It’s absolutely massive, and you can see it easily from the other side of the river. We do pictures, Stephen and Damon have a race up the steps (crazy track people, they are), and then we go eat dinner. Again, good food. It’s starting to rain, though. We head back to the hotel for some free time.

Since it’s Friday night, and the hotel has a Karaoke bar, it’s party time. We rent a big room (for about 40Y a person, which considering the fact that it gets us a giant room and a good supply of beer (two/three apiece for ten or so people)) and go to town. Lots of singing, is very fun. They don’t have many good American songs, but we make do with what we have—singing with Theron, Diana, and Lindsey to “I Will Always Love You” was certainly fun.

Stephen, having a few shots of tequila in him, decides to see if any of the girls at the bar want to come hang out with us. Only one comes in, and by how friendly she’s being, we start to get a bit suspicious. Until we call Pingping and she confirms that the woman is, in fact, actually a prostitute. Stephen is bummed that she didn’t just think he was charming. There will be much teasing for a very long time.

Damon, also three sheets to the wind, decides to make a bunch of new friends, asking the karaoke bar staff to come sing with us. They do, and fun times are had by all.

Afterwards, though, we decide we want to go out, and Pingping shows us to a nearby bar. It’s empty other than a few Chinese women (having learned his lesson, Stephen refrains from hitting on them) and a pretty nice young French guy. We play some pool, talk a bit, have a bit more to drink, and it’s just a very good, fun bonding experience. We learn a lot about each other, and it’s quite a good time.

We head back to the hotel in the rain and call it a night.

Day 9:

Wake up. Not feeling too well, wonder if I’ve got a cold. I definitely underestimated how cold it was going to be in Luoyang. Take some Ibuprofen, start to feel better. It’s a long bus ride, about an hour and a half, but we finally arrive near the Shaolin Temple (for those who don’t know, the temple where they created kung fu in the first place). However, we’re not going to the temple, we’re going to the school where they educate the young monks.

They put on a pretty awesome show for us, with acrobatics and nifty weapon use and rather ludicrous feats of durability, like breaking a brick on a stack of bricks against someone’s back (while he’s holding himself up by a pair of dulled spears against his chest). Quite impressive, and we actually had no idea it was coming. Afterwards, a pair of them teach us a form, though not-loose black jeans are rather hard to do kung fu in.

One of them had had volunteers out of us punch him in the stomach as hard as we could without feeling a thing. Stephen, always the clown, asks one of the monks to punch him, just so he can see what it’s like. At only about 40% strength, he knocks him back with a very funny noise. These guys are tough.

Also, they’re pretty good at hacky-sack. At least, they got pretty good pretty quickly after a rather rough start. How many people can say they’ve played hackysack with an authentic, real-life Shaolin kung-fu monk?

Afterwards, it’s time for lunch at a nearby restaurant for the monks… all vegetarian. They do some absolutely CRAZY stuff with tofu and vegetables, to the point where we’re all “there is no way this isn’t meat.” Still, it’s not all that appetizing.

We go to the ACTUAL Shaolin Temple itself, a bunch of us rent warm black jackets because it’s raining and freakin’ cold. We see another demonstration, though this one is more touristy and feels a bit less authentic. Theron does get up for a little “monkey see, monkey do” bit, and he does damn well—better than the others, so he gets a little picture of himself and the monk.

The Shaolin Temple, as one would expect, is absolutely gorgeous. It just feels very serene, and it’s so bizarre thinking that there are actually people who live here and study martial arts (there’s a video showing some of their exercises, damn impressive). Nearby, there’s the Pagoda Forest, where they have pagodas for all the important monks who have died. That’s one hell of a graveyard, I can tell you that.

Once more, back to Luoyang, once more dinner (At the same restaurant we’d been to the previous night). After that, we go to the Luoyang train station (our adorable guide sings some of her favorite songs using the mic on the bus, she’s freakin’ cute). We’re doing first class this time around because we’ll all be sleeping (11 PM to 11 AM train)… certainly much nicer. There are rooms with doors and everything. It’s me, Lindsey, Tang-Laoshi and Pingping in the room. Lindsey and I chat for a while, she’s pretty much becoming my best friend here so far. She plays a bit more Phoenix Wright, but we’re all exhausted, so I go up to the top bunk and call it a night. Not the best sleep I’ve had, but I’ve also had worse.

Day 10:

We get into Nanjing at just before noon, get off the train, get onto the waiting bus, and it’s a relief to be “home” again. At around one-ish, me and Lindsey go get some lunch, first changing money at the Bank of China, and then just walking and exploring. We end up in this little bank of houses, totally lost, but an adorable old Chinese woman gives us directions back to Shanghailu (the main street by NanDa).

We duck into a clothing store, try some stuff on. I get a really awesome white windbreaker/runner’s jacket… thing… for only 15Y. Lindsey picks up a nifty leather jacket for 50Y. Good prices (especially mine. Sometimes China is really awesome!). We end up just going to the Skyway’s bakery even if it IS foreigner central, because sometimes it’s just nice to have a little slice of home and we weren’t in the mood for McDonalds.

Back to the dorm, do homework, nothing too groundbreaking. Tomorrow is Monday, more classes, and finally meeting my roommate. I have to clean the place up, then…
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Re: CFTF: The Nanjing ChroniclesTopic%20Title
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Worthy's Girl. Den Mother. PxE Shipper

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Sounds like fun was had by all although I do feel sorry for Stephen. >.< By the way, what is hacky-sack? Just curious.
Thanks for sharing your further adventures in China. Ever thought about writing a book about your experiences? :^) It would certainly be interesting reading.
Anyway, good luck with your classes! Looking forward to reading more about your school experience. :)
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Re: CFTF: The Nanjing ChroniclesTopic%20Title
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So moe for Makoto it's funny.

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Hacky-sack is a hippie game where you have this little beanbag and kick it around in a circle using your chest/knees/legs, no hands. Kind of like juggling a soccer ball except it's smaller and you play it with other people.

Thanks for enjoying :)
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[Watchin' you]

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HACKY-SACK.
That game is total win. <3
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So moe for Makoto it's funny.

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My roommate is a really cool guy. Filmmaker, loves the Beatles, loves Warcraft and computer games.
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spr fckn srs peepz

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Hacky-Kill is far more awesome. Although if you've ever played that with someone with combat boots, and he tries to side kick the hacky into your face, and you happen to be too close...
http://vanderlund.blogspot.com - Because the only fantasy worlds I like are those I write myself.
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Worthy's Girl. Den Mother. PxE Shipper

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CantFaketheFunk wrote:
Hacky-sack is a hippie game where you have this little beanbag and kick it around in a circle using your chest/knees/legs, no hands. Kind of like juggling a soccer ball except it's smaller and you play it with other people.

Thanks for enjoying :)


Thanks! Never heard of it before so I was wondering. :) And you're welcome. I do find them fascinating so I'm happy to hear about further adventures. :)
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So moe for Makoto it's funny.

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Went out clubbing tonight, slightly drunk at the moment.

Okay, very drunk.

I think I got my ear pierced tonight. ACtually, I'm fairly SURE I got my ear pierced tonight, because it's pierced now and it wasn't pierced earlier.

Lots of fun at clubs. I should do that more often.
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