Family Adventures

It seems I am incapable of producing a blog post with any regularity. I have excuses, but you don't want to hear them, so I will spare you :).
Even though it has been about a 2 weeks since arriving back in Beijing after two wonderful weeks of travel with my family, the memories are still fresh in my mind.

The week before my family I arrived I was itching to see them. I counted down the day, 7,6,5.... and so on until Friday afternoon I got an email from my dad, "We are in Beijing!" My family, who I had not seen and had missed so badly for 4 months was finally in my reaches. I raced home to my hutong near where my parents hotel was. I found my mom sitting in hotel lobby waiting, fighting off her jet lag while my father and brother had succumbed to it and fallen into bed. To be able to hug my family and actually see them for the first time in so long, not just as fuzzy pictures on my computer screen, is a feeling I can't really describe. After the happy reunion and a SYA Christmas Party, the trip really began.
We all arose bright and early (to my brother's extreme dismay) and headed off to the Great Wall with my good friend, Stephanie, and her family. After enjoying several hours strolling the Wall's tumultuous hills, we headed off to the Ming tombs, several burial sites of emperors long gone. We had a tour guide, and it was a wonderful feeling to hear her tell my family little bits about Chinese culture and then, having already studied most of them, elaborate and teach them what I have been learning about.
After a long day, we headed home to have dinner with my host family and when we arrived I discovered that my mama had prepared nothing short of a feast. There must have been 8 or 9 dishes of various dofu's, meat's, vegetables and all sort of CHinese cuisine. Having already prepared my family for this possibility, they tried a little bit of everything and kept up a constant stream of praise for my mama's cooking. It was a little funny to watch them struggle with their chopsticks, but after several dropped mouthfuls into laps and onto the floor, they got the hang of it. After I thought they might all burst from so much food, my mama, who did not eat anything but watched and piled things on their plates, said, "现在我们吃饺子。“ Translation- Now come the dumplings.
Uhoh. My mama made a grand total of 4 trips into the kitchen to bring out 2 bowls of lamb jiaozi, 2 bowls of vegetable jiaozi, and a bowl of beef jiaozi. I thought my family might start to cry when they saw the 2nd round of food, but if they just smiled and polietly stuffed as many dumplings into their mouths as possible in between the cries of, "UMMM! Delicious!" and "The best Chinese food I've ever eaten!" I would like to make special note of the real hero of the night, my brother. As a 6'1" kid with not an ounce of fat on his bones, his plate was immediately the target of my mama's heavy scooping spoon. He ate more food than any human being, Chinese or otherwise, I have ever seen. Though generally a picky eater and absolutely allergic to anything healthy or vegetarian Esq, he put down more dofu, radish, and spinach than I though humanely possible. I was so proud of all of them, but him in particular for his enthusiasm and wonderful attitude around my Chinese family. Beyond proving themselves competition worthy eaters, my family communicated with my family beautifully. Though they had help from Wang Qian, and myself, my family basically held their own and covered issues from the one child policy to what Americans really think of Bush (lots of laughs on that one...). To watch my two families not only accept each other and get to know each other, but also have a wonderful time in each others company made me realize how incredibly lucky I am. Most people are lucky to have one solid, loving and caring family, but I have two.

After several days in Beijing, showing my parents my favorite places and introducing them to some of my friends, we were off. First stop, Lijiang, a relatively well known city in Yunnan. Lijiang is beautiful and we spent most of our time in parks and in the old town. Here are a few pictures that will probably do I better job than I will of showing you Lijiang.






Then after a VERY long 7 hour car ride, we arrived in Zhongdian, or Shangrila as it was renamed a few years ago. Zhongdian, also in Yunnan province, is the sight of a huge Lama Temple that houses near 700 monks. This area was a former Tibetan territory and when we visited this culture was extremely apparent in the atmosphere of the place. Everywhere we went the people were dressed in very traditional and colorful Tibetan grab and the architecture or the homes was like no Han Chinese home I have seen before. Cows, pigs and yaks roamed the gravel paths and monks ranging any where from 10 to 60 strolled solemnly through the giant temple. The temple itself is a giant edifice set on a hill with a long line of steps leading to the main entrance. Inside there are many giant brass and silver prayer wheels and colorful murals depicting the scripture's stories on the walls. Unfortunately, not pictures were allowed inside of the temple but here are a few from the area.









It was beautiful and wonderful to see such a starkly different part of China.

From there we headed to Shanghai. Shanghai and Beijing are often compared and judged against each other, leaving Beijing to be the "Washington DC" of China while Shanghai is the "Manhattan". This comparison held up and Shanghai truly is a cosmopolitan and international city. But because of its extreme similarities to New York and London, it wasn't nearly as interesting as the other places we visited. Besides that, the weather was absolutely atrocious and this was our view from the bund, the most famous sight in Shanghai.

Rather anti-climactic, but the shopping was fabulous :).

We all left Shanghai ready for something other than a huge bustling city and found ourselves in Hangzhou, our last stop on the trip. Famed for having been called the most beautiful place in China by Marco Polo, Hangzhou is a city of 7 million set near a giant lake resort area. It is the most beautiful place I have thus seen in China and there was a certain magic to the way the sun sparkled on the lake and the willow trees dipped their branches low to skim the surface. We stayed on the outskirts of the city, and other than visiting a temple and garden, my family spent our last days together for the next 5 months strolling over ancient marble bridges and watching birds scoop low to hover above the vast lake. One night my mom, dad and I went to see a performance Hangzhou is famous for. I was afraid it was going to be a giant tourist trap, and perhaps it was a little bit seeing as the audience was almost entirely comprised of foreigners, but it was most tastefully done tourist trap I have ever experienced. Disney World/Land should take notes. The show started at 8 and it was outdoors on bleachers on the edge of the lake. Suddenly the lake lit up and a beautiful score began to play. From the middle of the lake rose a figure, and he seemed to float on the water. The show was the folk lore of the town and a sad love story intertwined and preformed entirely on platforms just below the waters surface. There were drums and a fantastic light show that not only lit up the small section of the lake we sat near, but a huge area. It was the best set for a show I have ever seen. To give you an idea of the scale of this performance, I found out afterwards that the staging and lights were done by the same man who helped to direct the Olympics opening ceremony. In short, it was awesome.

After several days of relaxing and enjoying each others company, my family flew on to Hong Kong and then home and I flew on to my home. It was hard to see them go, but I feel better knowing that they have seen how I live now and that they know I am happy :).

Well, its late and I have the SAT this Saturday... *gulp*...
Study time!
Until Next Time,
Julia Loughlin

Song of the Week
I Miss You by: Incubus

A Taste of Hutong Life

Sorry for the extreme delay in post! I just returned from a two week vacation with my real family through Beijing, Lijiang, Shangrila, Shanghai, and Hangzhou. It was an absolutely wonderful trip and seeing my family was amazing. I was happy to see them in good health and humor, and loved watching them explore the city I now call home. I have a very long blog in the works because there is much to say about our travels through China, but first I'd like to post another English essay I wrote shortly before my winter break. In English we read an essay from the book Wild Grass by Ian Johnson about the destruction of historic hutongs for new real estate developments. Then our English teacher assigned us to go on a scavenger hunt through the city visiting some of the sights mentioned in the essay and talking with current hutong residents. We then had to pick one of the items on the list that we had completed and write about it. As a hutong dweller, I had many interviews with the people living around me to find out more about what they thought of hutong life. Hope you like it!
The deep rattling sucking noise of phlegm climbing up a throat like a locomotive chugging out of a tunnel. Then the pronounced, heavy spit into a sink. It is so loud it sounds as if it were happening in the room, even though I know it is occurring just outside the hutong's paper thin walls. I used to shudder every time I heard it but today I don't even look up from my Chinese homework. Half way through writing the next character my sliding door is thrown wide open. At the door way stands my 7 year old mischievous neighbor with an impish grin spread across his face. Today he has donned a stained cartoon Spider man t-shirt, but has forgotten the bottom half of the outfit. He takes one look at me, laughs, and runs back into my family's living room where my host parents sit apparently oblivious to the intrusion. After being ignored for several seconds he takes off, giggling, back to his own section of the hutong.
            When my English teacher assigned our class a scavenger hunt to find various hutong locations in Beijing, I was ready to learn more about the fast disappearing edifices. After having read Wild Grass by Ian Johnson in class, and hearing his views on the government's destruction of hutongs, our mission was to find some of the oldest hutongs in Beijing, see some of the new real-estate developments that have replaced destroyed hutongs, and talk to residents of the ancient courtyard homes. Half of the locations on the list were in my backyard, the closest being Ju'er Hutong, an ancient alley about 3 minutes from my home. I scouted out most of the locations on the list and found it very interesting, however, it was the conversations with hutong residents that were most informative and enlightening.
            My host father sits across from me on a cracked pink plastic lawn chair. I ask him what he thinks of living in a hutong. He looks at me thoughtfully for a moment from behind his wire rimmed spectacles, his fingers laced on his lap. He tells me that he has lived in hutongs his whole life. Even today, his mother lives in the hutong he grew up in, not far from the one he owns now which means he can see his 70 year old mother everyday. My host father's eyes have a glint of nostalgia as he recounts his memories of growing up in a hutong. He tells me of his childhood adventures ice skating on the Hou Hai lake, just a 5 minute walk from his home, and playing tag with his siblings through the snaking alley ways. He admits, life was simple and there wasn’t a lot of space, but that there was an incredible sense of community between all the hutong dwellers. Today, this sense of community is still a main reason my host father likes hutong life. "I know every single person in this hutong," he tells me proudly. Moreover, he says that this kind of community is the perfect atmosphere to raise a child in. His own daughter, Wang Qian, now grown up and away at college, grew up in a safe and kid friendly environment. All of the other hutong residents looked out for her when necessary and because the neighborhood was very quiet with few cars daring to wedge their way through the narrow alley, there were no worries when she wanted to play in the street.
When I ask my host father if he finds living in a hutong comfortable, his eye brows knit tightly. He concedes that it isn't very big and some hutongs are not in good condition, but that his hutong has every thing his family needed. There is hot water, enough room for Wang Qian to have her own bedroom, and a sizable living room. Moreover, when I ask him what he thinks about living in an apartment in comparison to living in a hutong, I find out that he actually owns a 3 bedroom apartment in Beijing, but rents it out because he doesn't find it as comfortable.
Wang Qian sits on the faded white sofa with her laptop in her hands, her Ipod to her left, and a brand box set collection of Gossip Girl DVDs to her right. She glances past me at the shiny flat screen screen TV on which a group of game show contestants try to jump from Styrofoam block to swinging rope over a pool of water. Splash, a contest falls and Wang Qian’s focus jumps back to me. “What about hutongs?” I repeated my question of whether or not she liked living in a hutong. A familiar thoughtful look crosses her face. She tells me that it was where she had grown up and made her friends. She admits it’s not a fancy, new apartment, but it has what she needs, being most importantly wireless Internet and central heating. She adds that living in a hutong means you live in some of the best and most central locations in Beijing. Behai Park, Jingshan Park, Hou Hai, Wangfujin, and the Forbidden city are all at her fingertips, and if that means living in slightly cramped quarters rather than a modern apartment, she’d take it.
Living in a hutong means noise, interruptions, and sometimes not as much privacy as you would like. I’ve lost count of the times my little monster of a neighor has run into my hutong just to throw the sliding door open. I can’t remember how many times the dog that lives next door has followed me into my house just to beg for dinner scraps. And I certainly know that I have heard that same neighbor hack leughies every morning without fail, but I love it. Based on my scavenger hunt assignment to have conversations with hutong residents, I learned that many of them feel the same way I do about hutong life. Yes, sometimes we have to sacrifice a little bit of personal space and be patient with the peole we live in such close quarters with, but the reward is the incredible sense of community only a hutong can offer.