Okay so I am currently in Tokyo. It's nice. I wanted to put up some pictures from Shanghai but alas, my camera just ran out of batteries.... So I shall soon put up some pictures from both Shanghai and Tokyo.

Yay.

Xi'an has secret rooms

I traded IPODs with a friend here in China named Zhou. I might have mentioned him in some previous post. But anyway. He is a graduate student studying Statistics at North Dakota, but he is originally from Tianjin. He volunteered to show us around the city and such, but now we like to hang out with him. His favorite musician is Marylin Manson, so I thought it would be fun for us to switch our ipods. As a result, I have been listening to nothing but Van Halen, AC/DC , Motorhead, and other metal bands. Hopefully he does not think that my music is bad. Haha.

Here is a picture of him with Monica and Justin in the background.

This weekend, we traveled to the historical city of Xi'an. Honestly, if I were to come back to China, I would come back to this town. The place always has something going on. Either a parade, fireworks, or other random cultural events. The town originally was surrounded by a town wall, which today you can ride your bike around (13 km?). We arrived to Xi'an by plane on the fourth of July.

We actually missed the Olympic torch pass through by a few hours. We did not get to celebrate the holiday till the next day.

On July 5th, during the day we went to see the Terra Cotta soldiers located near the mountains. They are buried underground in a tomb. It is very similar to the tomb of the Pharaoh's.

Here is the first vault. Apparently, all of these soldiers were originally in ruins and had to be glued back together. Pretty impressive.

I am a happy Terra cotta soldier!

I found this picture on the wall in one of the tourist shops. I think this man (who ever he is) looks like my father. Or at least his long lost twin.


Later that day we went to see one of the most famous concubines home. She lived during the time when being fat was HOT and women were considered as equals. Her home had access to these natural hot springs, so there were at least four different bath houses on the property.

The house of the concubine. It must be nice to be the favorite.
This is the source of the hot spring.

At night we went to see this amazing fountain show at the Buddhist pagoda. It was really cool. Like a giant outdoor rave with lots and lots of water.

We visited a Muslim temple in Xi'an. When the tour guide was describing their largest minority population, it appeared to me that there remains an air of hostility towards outsiders. She explained that the Muslims do not call themselves Chinese, but Muslim and that they always hope to go back to their homes. The reason why they live in this city is because this town is the start (or end?) of the silk road which opened up China to trade with other regions.






Before going to the temple, we rode our bicycles on the wall. It was a lot of fun to be able to see the city in this manner. I didn't bring my camera, so I have no pictures. But, I was able to do all of the 13 km in 45 minutes? or so? Good work out. Haha.

The train ride back was interesting with beautiful scenery.
Our bunk beds. I don't know if you can tell, but there is a third bunk all the way up top. I slept there. It was nice.
Justin playing Go. Later I played, and lost..... It's a hard game. This was the view outside of the train. It was lovely. A nice escape from the city smog.


Today, I learned how to play this instrument. The 二 胡（er hu). It's like a violin, but with two strings.

We are leaving for Shanghai this Thursday by train. We are having our final ceremony that day where we present our tai chi, wushu, and a short performance. I am not sure when I will update the blog again, hopefully sometime before the trip to Tokyo.

Not enough information

Today was exciting. After our culture class, where we learned how to sing a song, we were taken to the "costume" room. We all were dressed up and made up to look like characters from the Beijing Opera. At first, it felt weird, to look so... weird, but then it almost felt natural. The head peices cut off the circulation to the head, and it hurt, a lot. I have no idea how people manage to wear such an outfit for three hours straight.

Tomorrow we will be taking a flight to Xi'an, a historical town. It houses the terra cotta soldiers and the tomb of the emperor. We will take a train on the way back, which I am most excited for. (I like trains).

Earlier this week we learned about the art of Calligraphy. At the end we got to practice the art. I wrote a pretty impressive poem:

今天是水

我心是渴

（Today is water

My heart is thirsty)

To me, it represents the search for knowledge and experience.

This is our whole class dressed up. We are a good looking bunch, do you think so?

I was dressed as one of the four Chinese beauties represented in the opera.