From the Camp Champ China Mojo Blog, by your's truly:
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I feel like I should have a shirt that says, "It's been three months and all I have to show for it is a 6-minute video."
It's been three months since our little band of MOJO-ers high-tailed it to northwesten China. Three months - good golly, Ms. Molly! I can't say it feels like yesterday, last week, or even last month that we traversed the Chinese landscape and bathed in the generosity of our hosts. It feels entirely like three months. I can say, however, that still feels real, which is more than I can say for my trips to Disney (at age 6 and 17, respectively). And that, ladies and gentlemen, says quite a lot, as I've been staring at the trip footage for, well, three months now.
Oh, yes: the footage. While waltzing along the Yellow River one day, it was brought to my attention by Dr. Rob Williams that even the most mundane activities were instantly cooler as a result of the little phrase "...in China." I lounged on a rock/seat/crevice and said, "I'm sitting on a rock...in China" and it was true! Sitting never looked so cool! Hence, the following retrospective, entitled "Everything is Cooler in China". All edited and ready for your enjoyment.
China. The land of the cool.
-Kristen
Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Showing posts with label China. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
China Diaries: Xinging and Xi’an by the numbers
China Re-hashing Time: The following entry was written for our CampChamp ChinaMojo blog. To read other impressions from the group, visit ChinaMojoVT's blog
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June 4, 2009
It’s hard to process the trip on the fly AKA when tired/grumpy/has a stomach that is destined for the Moscow Circus in the high wire act. But numbers are easy to understand, so let me start there.
6 AM: The time I woke up to take a shower on top of the toilet. Yes, on top of the toilet. The shower head was not separate from the rest of the bathroom. An adventure in cleanliness, I like to call it.
100 Yuan: The bill I gave to a storekeeper to buy 8 bottles of water for our crew. She took the bill, looked at me, and laughed. Apparently, the water was only 2 Yuan/bottle – I got a lot of change back.
Two: The number of peach Fantas that were purchased at the Xi’an city wall. A long, enjoyable walk along the top of this wall made us all want a little refreshment. Miguel was the lucky purchaser of this nectar of carbonation with Rob soon to follow. Kat even got one at the Terracotta Soldiers cafe.
Hundreds: The number of parasols that visitors to the Terracotta Soldiers had thrown over their heads to protect them from the sun’s rays. Donna was coveting a few of the fashionable umbrellas – we even saw women wearing matching outfits to go with their parasols.
4D: The number of my seat on the plane to Xinging. A lot of turbulence, but we made it in one piece. Plus, I got a chance to scribble down yesterday’s events.
A lot: The number of toasts made by our host and Xinging delegates at dinner. The food was plentiful, tasty, and beautiful. The fruit juice and dog "pee" bread was a particular favorite. Now, I will roll to Skype and then to bed.
Tomorrow, after all, is spent with the Master. Need to be rested!
-Kristen (sans Twitter, Youtube, and WP)
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Fun fact: There are two Great Walls of China. One is the physical one we all know, love, and cannot, in fact, see from space. The other is the Great Firewall of China - blocking the Internet access that I and my companions had grown accustomed. A day or two before our departure, this wall came to our attention and its existence caused a slight panic as it thoroughly blocked not only Twitter and YouTube, but also WordPress and Blogspot.
The solution to our problem was only determined the night before our flight, as we sat in Rob's childhood kitchen in New York: E-mail. We could e-mail our entries to the blog. It would just be text, but that was better than nothing.
Ingenuity - the Mojo way.
--
June 4, 2009
It’s hard to process the trip on the fly AKA when tired/grumpy/has a stomach that is destined for the Moscow Circus in the high wire act. But numbers are easy to understand, so let me start there.
6 AM: The time I woke up to take a shower on top of the toilet. Yes, on top of the toilet. The shower head was not separate from the rest of the bathroom. An adventure in cleanliness, I like to call it.
100 Yuan: The bill I gave to a storekeeper to buy 8 bottles of water for our crew. She took the bill, looked at me, and laughed. Apparently, the water was only 2 Yuan/bottle – I got a lot of change back.
Two: The number of peach Fantas that were purchased at the Xi’an city wall. A long, enjoyable walk along the top of this wall made us all want a little refreshment. Miguel was the lucky purchaser of this nectar of carbonation with Rob soon to follow. Kat even got one at the Terracotta Soldiers cafe.
Hundreds: The number of parasols that visitors to the Terracotta Soldiers had thrown over their heads to protect them from the sun’s rays. Donna was coveting a few of the fashionable umbrellas – we even saw women wearing matching outfits to go with their parasols.
4D: The number of my seat on the plane to Xinging. A lot of turbulence, but we made it in one piece. Plus, I got a chance to scribble down yesterday’s events.
A lot: The number of toasts made by our host and Xinging delegates at dinner. The food was plentiful, tasty, and beautiful. The fruit juice and dog "pee" bread was a particular favorite. Now, I will roll to Skype and then to bed.
Tomorrow, after all, is spent with the Master. Need to be rested!
-Kristen (sans Twitter, Youtube, and WP)
--
Fun fact: There are two Great Walls of China. One is the physical one we all know, love, and cannot, in fact, see from space. The other is the Great Firewall of China - blocking the Internet access that I and my companions had grown accustomed. A day or two before our departure, this wall came to our attention and its existence caused a slight panic as it thoroughly blocked not only Twitter and YouTube, but also WordPress and Blogspot.
The solution to our problem was only determined the night before our flight, as we sat in Rob's childhood kitchen in New York: E-mail. We could e-mail our entries to the blog. It would just be text, but that was better than nothing.
Ingenuity - the Mojo way.
China Diaries: Packing
China Re-hashing Time: The following entry was written for our CampChamp ChinaMojo blog. To read other impressions from the group, visit ChinaMojoVT's blog
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May 30, 2009
It's Saturday. We depart for Newark on Sunday. Our plane (with us on it, one hopes) flies to Beijing on Monday.
What does this mean: Time to pack!
Before: The Chaos!!! Run in fear!!! Maybe not fear, but serious doubt. This is my attempt at packing light for 2-weeks in China...clearly, I fail in a very strong way. I failed so much, in fact, that I went out and bought a new, bigger, better bag mere moments after this picture was taken.
After: Serenity in two petite (as if) bags. My bags are rotund, I admit this. However, I can carry them around like a good independent women (mama taught me well) and will never be bored as a result! Of course, this is China we're talking about - boredom is an unlikely attraction.
T-minus 2 days.
--
Maurice. At the time I wrote this entry, Maurice was still just "that bag." The big bag that could fit all of my China needs (and more than a few luxuries that turned into needs as the trip progressed). That big bag with wheels, two compartments, and handles.
"Handles?" you ask, a slight frown on your face and a worried light in your eye, as if you don't truly want to know the answer but are lulled into asking by my overwhelming wit and Maurice's intriguing name.
Handles. Handles for hauling onto the check-in scales. Handles for tossing into vans. Handles for lifting up and down (and over and under) stairs in Beijing subways, because escalators are so last century, don't you know? How much I now appreciate good handles.
Maurice - a constant companion in black, silver, and yellow - now occupies my closet, waiting for the next big adventure.
No worries, Maurice. Our adventure is just around the next bend.
--
May 30, 2009
It's Saturday. We depart for Newark on Sunday. Our plane (with us on it, one hopes) flies to Beijing on Monday.
What does this mean: Time to pack!
Before: The Chaos!!! Run in fear!!! Maybe not fear, but serious doubt. This is my attempt at packing light for 2-weeks in China...clearly, I fail in a very strong way. I failed so much, in fact, that I went out and bought a new, bigger, better bag mere moments after this picture was taken.
After: Serenity in two petite (as if) bags. My bags are rotund, I admit this. However, I can carry them around like a good independent women (mama taught me well) and will never be bored as a result! Of course, this is China we're talking about - boredom is an unlikely attraction.
T-minus 2 days.
--
Maurice. At the time I wrote this entry, Maurice was still just "that bag." The big bag that could fit all of my China needs (and more than a few luxuries that turned into needs as the trip progressed). That big bag with wheels, two compartments, and handles.
"Handles?" you ask, a slight frown on your face and a worried light in your eye, as if you don't truly want to know the answer but are lulled into asking by my overwhelming wit and Maurice's intriguing name.
Handles. Handles for hauling onto the check-in scales. Handles for tossing into vans. Handles for lifting up and down (and over and under) stairs in Beijing subways, because escalators are so last century, don't you know? How much I now appreciate good handles.
Maurice - a constant companion in black, silver, and yellow - now occupies my closet, waiting for the next big adventure.
No worries, Maurice. Our adventure is just around the next bend.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
China Logs: Let the Re-hashing Begin
The Travel Channel is running a China marathon and I can't help but to look a little forlornly at the television screen because...
I miss China.
The Xi'an City Wall, June 2009
It was just under two months ago when I joined a group of social media travelers and hopped across the other pond to a completely different, completely disarming culture. If the language didn't confuse the daylights out of me, it was the traffic, bathrooms, and proffered statements of piào liàng (漂亮) that did. But it was a content confusion - a confusion of wide-eyed wonder from an East coast bound American with very little to compare anything to, let alone comprehend in the moment.
Looking back, I think it's time to share a few of my China musings on this blog. My thoughts on the trip were posted to our ChinaMojoVT blog, but I think I'll migrate a few of my entries over here. Add a few comments to my "in the moment" renderings of two months ago.
Should be interesting.
And maybe it will make China seems closer to home, if only for a few minutes.
I miss China.
The Xi'an City Wall, June 2009It was just under two months ago when I joined a group of social media travelers and hopped across the other pond to a completely different, completely disarming culture. If the language didn't confuse the daylights out of me, it was the traffic, bathrooms, and proffered statements of piào liàng (漂亮) that did. But it was a content confusion - a confusion of wide-eyed wonder from an East coast bound American with very little to compare anything to, let alone comprehend in the moment.
Looking back, I think it's time to share a few of my China musings on this blog. My thoughts on the trip were posted to our ChinaMojoVT blog, but I think I'll migrate a few of my entries over here. Add a few comments to my "in the moment" renderings of two months ago.
Should be interesting.
And maybe it will make China seems closer to home, if only for a few minutes.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
China Disconnect
I knew my return from the Middle Kingdom would be a shock. The time-change (12 hours), the food (...what, no pickled beets for breakfast?), the sheer number of Westerners.
But I did not anticipate my greatest shock: Plugging back in.
In China, I was unplugged, in part by choice and in part due to the location. I did not bring my laptop or cellphone with me; and even when I was at a computer, the Great Fire Wall of China did not allow me to surf the Internet in a normal manner.
Therefore, when I woke up in Vermont yesterday morning (...okay, afternoon), I anxiously waited as my computer booted up and my browser popped up with my bookmarks: Blogs, news, Twitter, Facebook, comics, and e-mails.
[Oh, the e-mails. One address alone had over 100 unread messages, many of which I have no idea how to respond as I've been out of the loop for 14-days. Some face-to-face time with the senders will improve my response time. At least, I hope.]
But I hesitated. I hovered over my Twitter log-in and thought, "Would it hurt to push this off for just a little while longer?" It's difficult to go from such an acute connection to the digital world to an all encompassing one. For two weeks, I blogged on my trip to China via e-mail and that's it. No Twitter, Facebook, or RSS Feeds. I'll admit that the initial severance was disorienting - where was my connection to the outside world? The answer to that question turned out to be, "Right outside your door." I talked to people. I walked, climbed, and Skyped with them. Interpersonal communication was my mode of connection in China and I got accustomed to it.
So accustomed, in fact, that the prospect of reconnecting gave me more than a moment or two of pause. Did I really want to open up the new media can of beans again?
Yes. Yes, I did. I updated my status on Facebook, Tweeted my adventures, and logged on to this very blog.
China disconnect over; Vermont connection complete.
But I did not anticipate my greatest shock: Plugging back in.
In China, I was unplugged, in part by choice and in part due to the location. I did not bring my laptop or cellphone with me; and even when I was at a computer, the Great Fire Wall of China did not allow me to surf the Internet in a normal manner.
Therefore, when I woke up in Vermont yesterday morning (...okay, afternoon), I anxiously waited as my computer booted up and my browser popped up with my bookmarks: Blogs, news, Twitter, Facebook, comics, and e-mails.
[Oh, the e-mails. One address alone had over 100 unread messages, many of which I have no idea how to respond as I've been out of the loop for 14-days. Some face-to-face time with the senders will improve my response time. At least, I hope.]
But I hesitated. I hovered over my Twitter log-in and thought, "Would it hurt to push this off for just a little while longer?" It's difficult to go from such an acute connection to the digital world to an all encompassing one. For two weeks, I blogged on my trip to China via e-mail and that's it. No Twitter, Facebook, or RSS Feeds. I'll admit that the initial severance was disorienting - where was my connection to the outside world? The answer to that question turned out to be, "Right outside your door." I talked to people. I walked, climbed, and Skyped with them. Interpersonal communication was my mode of connection in China and I got accustomed to it.
So accustomed, in fact, that the prospect of reconnecting gave me more than a moment or two of pause. Did I really want to open up the new media can of beans again?
Yes. Yes, I did. I updated my status on Facebook, Tweeted my adventures, and logged on to this very blog.
China disconnect over; Vermont connection complete.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Go West, my friend!
China is only 2 days away. Two days. I can't wrap my mind around it and yet, I've managed to get my packing done. Of course, I had to go out and buy a new bag and the entire thing may weigh that of a small child, but who really cares about that?
...other than my parents, that is.
As I'll be in China very soon, I'm sending anyone who reads along with me to our group's official China Mojo blog:
http://chinamojovt.wordpress.com/
You'll get to follow our entire journey through our writings, photos, and videos. I know it'll a pretty fabulous/overwhelming/exciting experience, so come along with us...at least, through our blog!
...other than my parents, that is.
As I'll be in China very soon, I'm sending anyone who reads along with me to our group's official China Mojo blog:
http://chinamojovt.wordpress.com/
You'll get to follow our entire journey through our writings, photos, and videos. I know it'll a pretty fabulous/overwhelming/exciting experience, so come along with us...at least, through our blog!
Monday, February 9, 2009
China Stress
China stress is in full bloom. Rotating dates, upcoming deposits, dwindling numbers, and a soliciation letter that refuses to reach it's conclusion has attacked this blogger in the last few weeks.
This blogger is not content.
However, I rememeber: China. China and Ningxia. China, Ningxia, and monks. China, Ningxia, monks, and international schools.
It's worth it. It'll be worth it.
On that note, here is my offical China Info/Fundraising page. I especially like the color combination.
Now, off to continue the stress via family soliciation. Perhaps I should bring something to protect myself...
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Big Bird, China, and Me
My first glance at China was through the eyes of Big Bird. With CTW's production of Big Bird in China (and the magic of VHS player and my patient parents), I went to China over and over again and saw magic. There were mythical phoenixes, dancing monkeys, beautiful writing, and stone lions that came to life. To my elementary mind, China was magical, plain and simple. And that still holds true today, just in a different light. A light that, ironically, Big Bird himself mentioned in the movie, saying:
"Well, what a good thing it would be if a great big American bird went to meet that beautiful Chinese bird! I mean, she could tell me everything about China, and then I could come home and tell everybody here!"
I'd like to be Big Bird. I never thought I'd utter or write that sentence for the whole world (okay, that's a hyperbole) to read. But in this instance, it makes sense to me, to be Big Bird.
And it's possible - The 2009 Spring Student Ambassador MOJO Experiment makes it possible. It's almost too much to grasp - me, in China? But it's real, tangible.
Now, I may be able to see China through my own eyes, all thanks to Big Bird.
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