This week I have my second Chinese exam so I’ve been a study bug. However, tonight was my friend Karen’s 生日 (birthday) so I decided to go out and celebrate! We met at a Chinese-Mexican restaurant called La Bamba.  I ate delicious tacos and birthday cake. It was a very multi-cultural birthday party to say…

Yesterday, my friend Erica and I visited Peking University.  Peking University is the best school in the country.  It is China’s Harvard and Yale.  It also has a beautifully, huge campus! Since we were meandering around, Erica and I had no idea what we were looking at.  This ended up being the most impressive building…

Lama Temple (not Llama Temple) is a very special place in China.  This is where Tibetan monks worship  which also attracts many local Chinese Buddhists to pray. This is the entrance for the temple; however, we walked through an additional 4 gates to explore the whole area. Before we entered the Lama Temple, our director…

Mmmmm the sweet taste of victory. I bought myself a 3 kuai ($0.50) chocolate fish after finding out I received a 93% on my first Chinese exam.  And just to top it off, my teacher told me that was the highest grade in the class! Even though there are only two other people in my…

I know what you’re thinking. OktoberFest is in Germany, not China.  Call it the “German invasion” if you will but this was the first year Beijing hosted an OktoberFest for Beijingers and foreigners to participate in. After an impromptu invitation, I decided it would be a great anthropological opportunity to examine how Western celebrations have…

This Thursday is 中秋节， or the Mid-Autumn Festival.  I have off of school because this holiday is very family oriented. Students go home and many stores are closed.  One of the best parts of the Mid-Autumn Festival is the moon cakes.  These are little desserts which are only eaten during this festival.  And let me…

Warning: This post may be long but I filled it with tons of pictures.  I really enjoyed the Forbidden City and I wanted to share all my pictures with you! Yesterday, Alliance took us to explore the Forbidden City.  After a long van ride, we arrived outside the main Meridian Gate.  This would have been…

I am quite relieved it’s Friday. I’ve been preparing non-stop for my first Chinese exam and I think it went pretty well.  I stayed up very late last night studying and woke up early to review a bit more.  After the exam, I celebrated by taking a 2.5 hour nap! My roommate, a friend, and…

Yesterday afternoon I attended a calligraphy class supported through the Alliance program. The 老师 (laoshi), or teacher, was a very funny and skilled artist.  He began the lesson by explaining that calligraphy uses traditional Chinese characters, not the simplified version I have been learning. He also made it very clear that you do not use…