China is treating me well.

Well since it has been so long since I have written I do not think that I will be able to fill in all of the details, but I promise that my next post will be as detailed as possible. Since our visit to the Terra Cotta Army and the Chinese Opera, we have been to quite a few other sites around the city. We also took a 4 day trip to Shanghai. The train ride there was an experience in itself. It was a sleeper train that was packed, jammed with people. The group was split up between the cars, but we had at least one other person sleeping next to us in the bunks. Megan was across from me on the way there so it made the time go by fast. It took 19 hours to get there, so I slept most of the time. It was pretty noisy, but I guess I was tired. Each little cubby hole has 6 beds without a door for privacy. It isn't like the sleeper cars you imagine in Europe with a door and a couple of beds. Shanghai was definately different from Xi'an because it is much more modern. When we got off the train I thought I was in a slightly different version of Chicago. There were many skyscrapers and perfect roads. Many McDonalds and KFCs. I was kind of dissapointed because I want to see more of the old China, but I took my chances and went anyway. Our tours that had been set for us felt very rushed for time. We saw the Orient Pearl Tower, a Buddhist temple in the middle of the city, went shopping on a street that was full of expensive clothing stores :( ..not my thing. We went to a place called The Water Village. That was my favorite destination becuase there were road waterways that traveled throughout the village. It reminded me of Venice. There was also many interesting shops to buy souviners from. They town is very old, so there was many buildings there that had been built over 900 years ago ,I believe. It was so beautiful.We went to the Silk Factory after that and saw how they make silk clothing and quilts. It was very interesting to see the process, because they boil the slikworm's cacoons and unthread them. It's crazy to thinnk that something so beautiful came from such a tiny worm. We did a few other things like check out the night clubs and try food from different restaurants. I really wish I could have stayed a little longer to get a better impression of Shanghai, but there is so much more to explore in China so it's ok.
The week after Shanghai went by pretty slow. We didnt do much except hang around the dorms, until the following weekend when I had my first KTV experience. It was Angela, Brian and Rachel's birthday so we celebrated it there. Everyone from the our group went, along with 15 or so Chinese friends that were invited. We had a giant cake fight and sang songs all night long until early in the morning. I would definately do it again.
The city wall was another great experience. It was like the Great Wall but in Xian. It is about 8 miles around, and has a great view of the city around it. My roomate and friends rented bikes and road around the whole city. At the time I wanted to save that experience for the Great Wall but now I regret that I didnt do it with them. But the wall isnt going to get up and leave anytime soon so I might find some time to do that. After exploring the wall we went to the Bell Tower in the center of the city and the Drum tower right after that. They look very similiar but have different purposes. The drum tower was my favorite because we got to see a little deomonstration inside with all different kinds of drums. They also had a small museum of old drums that have been designed and used throughout the different dynasties. After that we went to the Muslim Market. This is a road near the Bell tower that has a bunch of different stops and shops to buy goodies and souviners. It is a very crowded but beautiful street. This is where I hope to buy all of my christmas presents for people :).
We have also payed a visit to the Famen Temple and Qianling Mausoleum ,seen Pandas at a nearby zoo,visited the famous Wild Goose pagoda and saw the amazing music fountain show right next to it. Rachel (my roomate) and I also climbed Zhong Nan Mountain with our friend Hawk .He was so kind to plan the day out for us. It took a couple hours to get there and then a couple more to climb to the peak, where there was an awesome view of the surrounding mountains. A steep cliff next to the one we were on had a little temple on the top. It seemed quite impossible to reach. It was like a dream being up there. The fog started to rise and cover the view, until eventually everything around us was completely blanked out with a thick white cover. We had lunch and traveled back down. That took the longest. About 3 hours to get back down. We were so exhausted by the end of the day but it was worth it.
I finally found the music scence around Xian. If you know me at all you know that going to local shows is one of my favorite things in the world. Rachel and I met a few people who go to shows all of the time and they took us to one last weekend. A German punk band (No Opinion) and a Chinese punk band (Teddy's wish) rocked the house that night. I felt like I was at home for awhile. I got up on stage and sang Linoleum and stickin in my eye with the singer of No Opinion. I was also excited to see everyone rocking out so hard. It was the first show for a lot of them and I am glad they had so much fun. In fact, we are heading out to that same venue tonight to see another Chinese punk band (Reflector) and I can't wait.
My classes have been pretty easy for me so far. The teaching style is different, and at times boring, but I feel like I have been driven to learn a lot outside of class. I think that is the idea. My chinese is getting a little better from when I first arrived, but not close enough to have a full conversation with anyone. It is ridiculously difficult to learn. We havent even been taught how to write characters yet.
I have made many awesome chinese friends here. Some of them are the kind of people I want to keep in touch with for a long time after I leave. Everybody has been very nice to us and helpful. They think about others before themselves and it makes me happy to know that there are so many people like that here. I will miss China so much when I leave.
Alright ,well this is all I have for now. Hopefully I will post another one a lot sooner than I did this one. If you are reading this and you want to ask me a specific question in regards to anything , please ask!!!!
Until next time...