54. Eat dumplings in China (with Chopsticks)

>
> After our escapade to the Great Wall we went to an acrobatics show.
> Come to find out I get NO enjoyment from these types of shows. I
> actually hate them. I sit there the whole time afraid they're going
> to fall. I don't get this way for gymnastics routines though. If a
> person falls during their routine, their team may be a little
> disappointed but besides that they really have only let down
> themselves. If you are a performer you are really only performing
> for the audience. You fall and the entire audience gets let down.
> What pressure. Thankfully nobody had a major fall. I also have
> this anxiety for jugglers and the like. It's not just acrobats.
> Ahhhhhh, just thinking about it makes me nervous.
>
>
>
> After the show we hung out a little at the hostel with the other
> guests and then made our way to bed in order to catch our early
> morning flight.
>
>
>
> Jen and I also did a flaming shot! Wooo! Not very cool though
> because we did it with a straw.

53. Break an International Law

>
> So I'm still at sea. With a ton of essays. They never ever end. I
> think everyone finally hit the wall today. The boat was empty.
> Everyone was sleeping. There have been lots of all nighters. (not by
> me...I'm waiting until the night before the essays are due).
>
>
>
> If college has taught me anything it's that I don't care about being
> wrong or looking dumb. I tell my English class all the time that I
> don't know the answer. I don't even try to avoid it. Sometimes I'll
> stumble my way through an answer but sometimes I say straight up, "I
> have no idea." I now don't worry about getting called on. This is a
> good and bad thing.
>
>
>
> Yesterday we had to present our papers for anthropology. The thing
> is the actual paper isn't due until April 27. Why in gods name would
> I write the paper now if I have another 8 days to do it? This posed
> a problem for me. I decided to not write the paper, which meant I
> had to stand in front of the class for five minutes and talk about
> my "paper topic". I received a compliment after class from a girl,
> who knew I had nothing written, about my bullshitting abilities.
> Thank you Hopkins side (because I know the Johnsons would have
> written it before the essay was even assigned). I still have six days.
>
>
>
> Oh so good news! We are finally back in the tropics. That's right.
> Sun time. It makes me so happy. Like sooo happy. Tomorrow we have
> a "reading" day so I'll have to get out early to reserve a seat.
>
>
>
> Ok I'll get back to writing about China….

52. Toboggan down the Great Wall

That night we also stopped for a bite to eat at a local place. We got
dumplings. SOOOOOOOO amazing. Like best thing I've ever eaten. My
mouth is watering thinking about them. While we were there we met
these two ladies from Canada. They were flight attendants and this
was they're old stomping ground when they were younger so had to stop
by for old time sake. We were talking about their bags/purses and one
of the ladies held up hers only to reveal a huge slit down the side.
Someone had tried to take her stuff! She said there was a lady on the
train who was standing really close to her and acting strange so she
thought it was she. Thankfully nothing was stolen. It reminded us to
be careful though.

(Side note: Everyone at our first ports was soooo careful with money
belts and rack traps and the like but by China we have all let our
guard down. Don't worry Mom and Dad not me! I never used a money
belt (awful looking and feeling) but I did have a system. I put my
money and credit cards under one armpit in my bra and on the other
side I put my shipboard card and a copy of my passport. In order to
lose it, it would have had to fall out. Pshhhh I've never lost
anything that way….Thanks to the homeless man who sent my Chasers
money back to me. And any country that we had to carry our actual
passport was usually safe enough for it not to matter where we put
it. Proud?? I mean all I lost this entire trip was my phone, a T-
shirt, a pair of flip-flops, and four pairs of sunglasses. Not
awful?? The only thing is that all of those things were actually very
expensive (and new). I'm tearing up while writing this now.)

We went to the same restaurant the next day because we so enjoyed it.
MMMMMMMMMMM.

The next morning we got up early to make the trek to the Great Wall!
There are actually many different sections that you can go visit. The
closest ones are the most packed and touristy while the ones farther
away are more for those who want to hike.

We chose one in between. After a LONG bus ride we arrived! It's
crazy to think that on one side of the wall it was China and on the
other it was Mongolia.

Ok so when I think of the Great Wall I think of a tall wall that is
flat in between the two sides. When people talked about "hiking" it I
thought they meant walking from end to end. I had run out of pants to
wear so I was in my black sorority skirt, black tights, a tank top,
and my brown leather boots. I looked like an expensive stripper.

Anyways, "hiking" is actually hiking. The steps are uneven, made out
of stone, and often very steep with no railings. My calves got a work
out due to the tiny heel on my boots. We explored the wall for three
and a half hours! We walked from guard tower six to tower one and
then back. Some people walked all 21!! How crazy is that? You
probably don't know but it's crazy. We still hung out with the
Pakistani boys during this time because we were on the same tour
(rhymes with four).

The best part of the Great Wall was getting to toboggan down it! It
was like 3 minute toboggan ride. People from the previous day told us
to brake a lot at the top so we could reach full speed (even though
they would tell you to slow down). I didn't because I was a chicken
at the beginning. I regret that decision. Then when you actually
want to go fast you almost hit the people in front of you.

51. Get off a plane onto a runway

After a late start the next day we grabbed some breakfast at a cute
pastry shop. We walk down the rest of the street browsing the shops
and then found a bus back to Guilin.

After the hour bus ride, we were dropped off at an unknown to us
location supposedly in Guilin. We searched high and low for wifi to
find a hotel but ended up going back to the same hotel as before.

The language barrier was so great that we had to recall Maggie from
the hotel phone so she could tell them we wanted to book a room like
the previous. We actually did nothing the rest of the night. Ate a
little, attempted to have some wine. It tasted like watered down
grape juice so we couldn't even finish a glass.

We also discovered that our hotel had WIFI. WTHECK!. We asked like
seven times. And they said no. It had a password (I guessed Swan
Hotel and it worked). Again it stinks China has restrictions because
there's really nothing to mindlessly do on it to pass the time.

We woke up at 5 the next morning to make our flight to Beijing. I did
a few Hail Mary's after we touched down. After some more language
barriers we found a hostel we had found online the night before. We
went to eat lunch. Semi-ok. There we ran into five Pakistani guys
going to the same area we were so we decided to travel together.

They were on a Spring Break. They studied engineering in Hong Kong.
We traveled around with them the entire day. We took the subway
almost everywhere. (I accept it. Very similar to DC but more crowded
and you don't wait until people get off before you get on.) I feel so
local when I take public transportation. We went to the Forbidden
City, the Hidden Temple, and some other big sites in Beijing.

After we chilled at our hostel and met lots of cool people from across
the world! Everyone has such interesting stories!

50. Go to a hostel

I'M ON MY WAY HOME!!!!! Next stop the United States!

So anyways onto China….After we finally found a hotel in Yangshou we
went to a light show. We didn't get tickets in time so we decided to
do this thing offered through our hotel. Not real seats but close.
You only get to see half the show but ehhh, whatever we decided it was
worth it.

We didn't have time to eat so I cried a little but sucked it up (the
McDonalds was SOOOO close). We waited in the hotel lobby. (the hotel
appeared a teeny bit sketchy). Someone finally came and we were told
to follow her. It was only Jen and I (I think I may have left out
that it was only Jen and I backpacking across China…but now that I
survived….yeah….it was only her and me…love you Mom and Dad!).
Anyways we were following her through this festival to the street and
told to wait for a van. She really didn't speak English so she wrote
down the license plate number of the van we were waiting for. Five
minutes later the van pulled up, the door slides open. There is a
Chinese couple and an older guy. We got in the back and prayed it
wouldn't be our last van ride.

This is where things start getting sketchy. We took very dark empty
allies. At one point he pulled over, flashed the brights, turned on
the overhead light and turned it off very fast. I thought that was
the sign for people to enter the van and take us. It didn't help that
none of them spoke any English. CREEPY.

Finally we stopped and got out and walked down this pitch-black path
to the water's edge. It would have been similar to hiking at Camp
Nawakwa (sp?). We were very confused as to what to do but the old man
kept shooing us along. He made sure we stayed with them. It was so
cute. From the second we got out of the van this family had adopted
us. I guess the old man was the father of the guy in the couple. We
found plastic chairs and sat down. Legit the weirdest thing ever,
because we could see the audience that had actually paid for tickets.
We had a side view. The couple rented some binoculars and kept
passing to us so we could see.

When it was time to leave (before the show was over) they stood up and
made a gesture to show we should go with them. We attempted to find
our van. Thankfully we had our adopted family because we would have
been lost without them.

After we got back we randomly met up with two SAS girls and went to a
bar/restaurant to eat. By this point I had eaten one whole hand and
my pinkie on the other. We ended up drinking with this group. They
were so cool. He was a tour guide (rock climbing and other extreme
sports) and she was a math teacher. At one point a fight broke out
among some group members and they broke all of the beer bottles in the
process. Stupid people.

We left that group around 3am and were walking back to our hotel when
we ran into some street meat. We stopped to get some and started
talking to these guys from Italy and France. (Side note: They told
us the meat was beef and pork but I have an inkling is was something
else….very spicy). We went with them back to their hostel and played
beer pong and flip cup(they SUCK and don't really know the rules). It
was a culturally enriching experience. Finally at 6am Jen and I went
back to our hotel to sleep for few seconds.

49. Realize the meaning of life

Ok I know I've been MIA for a while. A long while. In my defense, my
life has been a little hectic. 5 days in Vietnam. 2 days on the ship
(paper due). 5 days in China. 2 days on ship (sleeping). 5 days in
Japan. One day on the ship (paper due). And here we are now!

I'm sure some of you are thinking, "well two days seem like a lot of
time to me." It's not. So I'm probably awake 16 hours every day. 5
of them are spent at meals, ordering food, waiting for food, or eating
in general. 3 are spent in class. 2 probably for changing clothes,
showering, and getting ready. 2 doing schoolwork. 1 watching
Californication. And 2-4 are spent hanging out with people on the
ship. So that means I have 1 to negative 1 hours to write emails/
blog. I'm a loser and I know it. (These numbers only apply to the
cold days in Asia. If we're near the equator, put 5 for tanning and
take five away from Californication, eating, and showering)

It's pretty dang rocky though. And I think someone got me sick. I
keep getting hot flashes. I sent my dad this paragraph:

"I have so much school work. Six papers in the next couple of days.

It's ten times worse because the ship is ROCKING. I don't get sea
sick but things that usually take two minutes and are easy now require
so much energy. AKA standing. Or attempting to get dressed. I open
the closet pick out a top and the door closes so I open it and hold it
with my foot and then the drawer opens. I close the drawer and the
closet door closes. I open the closet door for the third time to see
the mirror and put my shirt on and it closes onto me, knocking me
backwards. It's like a scene from I Love Lucy without the laughing.
It's so ANNOYING. And exhausting."

If anyone is going to throw anyone overboard now will be the time.

So I'm going to take lots of time to write today. I'll start with the
rest of China. And then will backtrack to Vietnam (even though I
don't want to relive any of it) and then will move onto Japan.

Collage

I'm working on new blog posts. Here is a collage a girl on the ship
made. Hopefully it shows up big enough.