June 8, 2009

I have finally figured out how to get onto my blog! As most of you know, some sites are blocked in China such as Youtube, some Google and in my case...Blogspot but I was able to find a way to go around the restricted sites. So much has happened over the last several days and I am having such a great time here in Qingdao. To start some from the beginning, the flight was very long but fortunately I was able to sleep through most of it which was helpful. As soon as we arrived into China, we all had to have our temperatures checked about 5 times before leaving the airport. We finally were free from the airport but soon enough once we arrive at our University…we were checked again. Well, apparently two girls had a little higher temperature than the rest of our group…so we were put into quarantine!! It was not severe but the two girls were taken to be hospital to check and see if they had the H1N1 virus, and of course they did not. We had to stay in our dorms only for the first day we were there which actually ended up being ok due to our jet lag. The next day we were able to leave our dorms and were finally able to explore the city.

I will not go into every detail from the day I left until today but my first day in China was definitely an experience. I would have never guessed we would have been put on quarantine… but it is a little humorous if you think about it :)

So far, everyday I have learned so much about the Chinese culture and also myself. I have class everyday, beginners Chinese from 8:00am until 12:00pm, a lunch break and then my Intercultural Communications class from 2:00pm until 4:00pm. The language course is challenging but it really is a lot of fun learning such a different language. My Communication class is so interesting and I am learning a lot about the Chinese culture that I did not know before. The weather here is perfect…sunny skies normally in the 80’s during the day and 70’s at night with no humidity. The beach is so close to the campus and the mountains are literally right outside my back window. It is so nice waking up in the morning to hot green tea and looking out our 4th floor balcony towards the beach, then turning around and seeing tall mountains. The beach is rocky in some places and sandy in places too but the water is very cold.

The food here is SO delicious…I have eaten some very different dishes but have not had any problem with anything that I eat. For example: jellyfish, lamb, pork, pigs feet, squid, clams, fish, conch, oysters, beef, dumplings, frog and I am still waiting on the day that scorpion is available to try! Green tea is served with every meal or hot water because the water here is unsanitary unless boiled. They have Sprites and Cokes but they usually are not cold. We have all mentioned that is something we miss…ice. The markets by our campus are so much fun and are crowded at all times of the day. Everything is so inexpensive here too…for example; all of our study abroad group could literally order a buffet meal and maybe pay $7.00 per person towards the end. Or for lunch the other day I got a big bowl of soup for 10 cents!

To continue, observing and studying the people in Qingdao is always fun to do too. Everybody is so friendly here and I have never once felt threatened by anyone. I have noticed couples walk everywhere together holding hands, younger girls with locked arms means they are best friends, most women and some men carry umbrellas to protect their skin and it is also a fashionable thing to do, elderly people playing games on sidewalks, food sellers lining the streets, people flying kites along the coast in the park, dogs wearing booties!, taxi drivers are even crazier drivers than in New York and so much more. I have also noticed people always look at us while we walk by them and some have even wanted to take pictures with us. The other day I wore a braid and was told I looked Russian haha. It is also fun to point out the signs the are in English but are completely grammatically wrong such as, “Wi thanks your four comeeng by” (The was on the way out of a restaurant)

My roommate, Lisa, is adorable and we are so alike in so many ways. This past weekend Lisa and I took a trip to Shanghai for the weekend! Her tutor back at A&M was born in Beijing and was visiting his family for a few weeks before returning back to the States so he came with us which was very nice because he is fluent. We went to the Pearl TV tower and viewed the city from 263 stories high, we went to the Bund, Yuyuan, Xintandi, some of the clothing shops, Peoples Square, saw Shanghai’s skyline which was breath taking, ate great meals and even had our first karaoke experience! Karaoke is HUGE in China and it was fun singing American songs but even more entertaining listening to the Chinese songs and lyrics haha. Overall the trip was perfect and I will always remember visiting Shanghai. If anyone does not recognize the sites I mentioned above, please Google them and see Shanghai’s beauty!

We arrived in Qingdao yesterday evening and have already started the busy week of school. It is about 11:00pm right now (10:00am back in Texas) so I am going to say goodnight for now. Thank you all who posted your sweet comments on my blog. Even though I have not been able to get onto it, I was able to read the messages today which put a big smile on my face. I love and miss you all!

-Alison

PS- Unfortunately I am not able to post pictures on my blog here in China...but I am creating a photo album on PhotoBucket and will let you know when that is ready to view.