Time to Move On

This past week has felt like an emotional roller-coaster as I've said goodbye to all the people who have made this year amazing. As I feel myself get misty eyed thinking about when I will see them again, I know that this may be the end of China, but this is the beginning of a new adventure.

I've always dreamed of going to Germany. I remember being a very young child walking along my house with my grandfather. I stopped and picked up a poppy flower, I told my grandfather that I thought poppies were the coolest flowers ever. My grandfather pointed across the street to a house on a large hill, and told me to look at it. He said that when he was in Germany (during WWII) it was full of rolling hills covered in poppy plants. That was when I first wanted to see Germany.

Fast forward eight-ish years.

It was the end of sixth grade and I had to chose what foreign language I would study. My choices were Spanish, French, and German, we were given a 5 page packet with the Spanish, French, and German translations for various English words and phrases. I was very disappointed that the school had decided to phase out Latin, I had always planned on taking Latin. I knew I didn't want to take Spanish because there was one first year Spanish teacher known for being notoriously mean. I thought about French but whenever I hear French it sounds like boomalajdalalamafouxpaxjammapelle, so French was out. As I looked through the packet at the German words and translations that I remembered that conversation with my Grandfather.

For the next five years I was immersed (as immersed as you can be in a small city in Ulster County NY) in German culture and the study of Germany. I began making lists of places I just had to see, by the time my German education was done the list covered just about every place in Germany.

Like many people college became a time to explore traveling I took numerous travel courses where we would study a country as a group and then travel there with a professor for a week. However being a double major with a minor I never found time to do a semester abroad and unfortunately my college never offered a travel course to Germany. After graduating I figured that traveling to Germany would just have to be something I did later. It became part of a rough five year plan.

This changed in January when I found an opportunity to become a certified English as a Second Language teacher in Germany. I signed up as fast as I could. So as my time in China is coming to a close, I look forward to the future where I will accomplish my dream of getting to Germany!

Yet these happy thoughts only go so far, so I tried to fill these past days with friends, Chinese food, and reflection; and tried not to think about all the goodbyes. I think I'll have plenty of time for reflection during my 30ish hour journey back to my parents house.

Back to Back Overnight Trains, Xian in 7 hours

These past few weeks have been a series of difficult decisions as I have to constantly decide how I want to fill the last of my time in China. I had a professor in college who was a fan of prioritizing. When I took his travel course to Ireland he attempted to teach me the importance of prioritizing.  However waking up early and literally running through Dublin prevented me from actually learning it's importance.

This past week however I was forced to prioritize, I was running out of time and had to chose between going to Xian (my original plan) or going to Beijing (on an impromptu trip with my friends). I just did not have enough time to do both. As I toiled with the decision I chose to email the person who first suggested I live abroad, my professor who tried to teach me about prioritizing. With his advice and many hours of contemplation in mind, I walked to the train ticket office and bought a round trip ticket to Xian.

Train to Xian!

As I set off on my solo trip to Xian I was excited for my last adventure before going home. However with my schedule this semester I would be taking two back to back overnight trains. As I set off to catch my Monday night train I was worried most about my seat, when purchasing hard sleeper seats on Chinese trains I prefer the bottom berth because I can sit up. Unfortunately the bottoms were sold out and I found myself in a middle berth. The train ride however ended up being awesome! As I made my way on to the train I met a couple of Czech guys who were also going to Xian. We killed sometime in the dinning car, drinking American beer.

Definitely didn't expect to find PBR dedicated to the US military in China

My train rolled into Xian two hours late, I should have expected that, as although Baoding is only it's second stop the train was 15 minutes late picking me up! I took a quick look at the wall before heading off to get the bus to the Terracotta Warriors.

Xian's City Wall

The bus to the warriors only took about an hour, then you have to navigate the was to the ticket office and entrance. Which are two DIFFERENT things. Don't walk all the way to the entrance as the ticket office is about half a kilometer from there.

Signs I should have been following.

Signs I was actually following

A Mural of the Great Wall

Walking to the entrance both times (once before I bought a ticket, and once after) was a very pleasant walk if you could tune out the shouts of shop owners to come look at their merchandise. However the beautiful blue sky (a rare sight in Northeast China) made it quite easy for me to tune them out.

The Entrance!

Checkout That Blue Sky!

UNESCO World Heritage Site

My first stop was an information center where I learned about the site and how the warriors have been put back together. The Terracotta Warrior site is set up very differently from other important sites in China, it felt very Western. The information center was very clean and modern, English signs everywhere. It was such an easy place to travel to in China.

Following the advice of many guide books as well as friends who have traveled to the Terracotta Warriors, I decided to do the pits backwards. My first stop was the third pit, this pit showcases the military elite.

These guys didn't fare too well

The repairs of this pit are still ongoing. 

Pit two begins to show just how massive the site is, however few warriors have been restored to their former glory. The real draw of this pit comes from the few restored warriors that are encased in glass where you can see the detail of the warriors.

Look how big this pit is!

See how his hand looks like it would be holding something?
The arrow he was holding has rotted away.

Standing Warrior

Terracotta Horses!

Pit one was my last stop and I'm really glad I saved it for last, walking into the pit, the size of it really took my breath away.

View From The Front

View of Soldiers Being Put Back Together

With such a limited amount of time in Xian I found myself unable to do anything else. By the time I got back to the city it was only an hour til my train. Despite having to take back to back overnight trains, I truly enjoyed my trip to Xian. Seeing the Terracotta Warriors was something on my "Must Do/See" list, it was actually the last thing on my list. Walking back to the train station after seeing the Warriors I felt such a sense of accomplishment, having checked off the last item from my list.

My Train Back to Baoding

Went to the Cinema!

On Thursday I was invited to see the new Star Trek movie with some co-workers. As the last movie I saw at a Cinema was Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter almost a year ago, I figured hey why not?! 

So many things are different in China, even the cinema! I'm not sure why I thought it would be the same as the United States, it's not like I've been to a cinema in any other country. However for some reason I thought it would be the same. I was pleasantly surprised. For one the seats are tiered so that unless the person sitting in front of you is 2 feet tall you won't have to worry about them blocking you view. At a height of 5'3 3/4" I notice things like this. 

The cinema also has assigned seating, at first I thought this was really different, but then I remembered the difficulty of getting a large section of "good" seats if you are going with friends. Here it doesn't matter if you walk in a minute before the movie starts you don't have to worry about finding a seat. Why don't we do this in America?

 

Loved the movie! Also I love Chinese cinemas, maybe I'll catch another film before I leave.