Yantai, just like home... with better apples

您好！？ Nin hao!?  Salaam Aleekum!  Sorry I haven't written to y'all lately (or in some cases at all) but I've been really busy, etc.  I'm writing on this, my first day in Yantai.  First and foremost, yes you can smoke anywhere, including my dorm room, and it's the tits.  And cigarettes and cheaper and better than the Gambia.  Christy I recommend you try Shuang Xi (Double Happiness - 喜喜） and Lesser Panda (小熊猫 xiao xiong mao).  Now on with business: Beijing was cool and all and I'm glad I saw it, and more glad I'll be going back when it's awesomer and a huge deal (Olympics), but Yantai is so much better in every way.  It's pretty big but it's right on the water, the sky is actually blue (no smog), I don't need lights on in my room in the daytime, I have a single dorm room (not hotel) which strangely enough is a place I feel comfortable, and it's not too hot because there's a really pleasant ocean breeze.  And, for some reason the food is even cheaper and actually better than that of Beijing.  Plus, not being a big city and all - believe it or not a million-person city is pretty small by Chinese standards - the people are really friendly and talkative, although they're standard Mandarin isn't so great.

Littering will make you sad

The train

I'll admit that before I got to Yantai, while my Chinese has improved tremendously already (especially speaking and listening comprehension) and our teachers are fantastic, I was kind of wondering why I came to China at all.  Maybe it's just the water, but I already feel at home and am so glad I'll be here for another six weeks and in a similarly "rural" area for another few months.  I swear my Chinese has improved has improved in the half-day we've been here just because I have more of a desire to speak and I'm happier (now to see about finding a cheap boat...) .  So yea, my Chinese-speaking ability...  If you weren't aware, this is an immersion program so amongst each other, on the street, and in class we aren't allowed to speak English... at all.  At first it was really tough, especially putting together original thoughts and even understanding people.  It was definitely on the lonely side.  I have discovered I'm capable of taking a language class entirely in Chinese, though; and frankly, it's about time.  The group of people is great though, and from all over and from all different backgrounds (we have one sorority girl and a Honduran guy from the Bronx whose mom only went to school through 3rd grade).  It's actually become a lot of fun to speak in Chinese - using English actually feel weird and a little wrong - and having other people's support and various knowledge was been more than a little helpful in doing something that is far from easy.  Now I can speak Chinese about as well as a 7 or 8 year old.

Traffic

Oh, and the train...  Train travel in China is everything I heard about.  Cramped, six person sleeping cars, bad food, warm beer, and way to many people in a super small space.  We had fun though.  It was great to see the city slowly (and I mean slowly, we were going like 30 mph tops) fade away into the night and the ancient splendor of China reveal itself.  The distant, obscure mountains, the sprawling farms, and the centuries-old communities centered on buildings in the old style, steeped in and still home to the world's oldest tradition.  And we all got to take a 14 hour respite from Chinese-speaking on the train.  We got to know each other better, told stories, got a little punch drunk, and got to laugh and hang out with our professors.  Christy, I'll let you discover for yourself the charms of Chinese train-travel but just say it's awesomely ghetto.

Train station

As I mentioned before Beijing is HUGE.  So many people, so much pollution, it's a crazy place.  But it really didn't feel much different at all, except that it was a city.  I could have gone to DC and it wouldn't have felt much different.  Even the kid from New York says Beijing seemed pretty much the same as American cities.  Plus, the complete lack of anything natural (including something as basic as sky) was definitely starting to get to me and the similarity was actually kind of frustrating.  When I return, however, I'm expecting good weather because it literally improves visibly every day.

Beijing did have some cool stuff.  The Forbidden City was extremely impressive and the Lama Temple was gorgeous (still trying to get photobucket working).  The little I saw of historic Beijing was very cool, I'm really excited to go back.  You could really tell it had more of a sense of community among the neighborhoods and the people were very friendly and relaxed.  The Summer Palace is definitely the most awesome place (and the one to which I forgot to bring my camera).  Astonishingly beautiful, on this pretty damn big lake.  There's a giant Buddhist temple complex on top of this hill in the otherwise flat Beijing.  On one side you can look out over the impeccable geometry of the temple complex on to the lake.  From the rock garden/ meditation labyrinth on the other side you can/ should be able to see the entire city.  I definitely want to spend a day or two there painting when I get back.

Yantai 10

Yantai 6

Yantai 7

Yantai 8

Yantai 9

Yantai street