China Crash Course

After 3 weeks on the road, soooo happy to be home. But I have had some awesome adventures along the way.  From Italy to Greece to China. Very different worlds.  I will start with the most recent and work backwards from there.  Beijing... Huge city, full of people, pollution, fake crap, and some amazing historic treasures.

I arrived a day before the rest of my colleagues so I could do some sightseeing before we started work on Tuesday.  After a long day of traveling I made it to the hotel, dropped off my stuff, took a rinse-off shower, and headed out.  The hotel recommended the Temple of Heaven as it was easy to get to and a pretty park area to check out too.  I spent all afternoon wandering around just taking in this other culture.  It is lucky that due to the Olympics all the signs are in both Chinese and English so it was easy getting around on the Subway and walking about.  You can't be real big on having your personal space in China though, there are so many people and they just kind of stand right on top of you.  Subway often was like a bunch of sardines piled in (well not as bad as some of the videos you see where people are pushing their way in to just get in, here you at least could stand without being pushed and smashed).
The Temple of Heaven, afternoon 1.  The park was a very fun place to people watch too.  There were people who were just hanging out in there all day. Doing Tai Chi, Chinese Ribbon Dances, playing instruments, singing, and just hanging about.  The temple was pretty amazing though, was used for prayers to heaven for a good harvest.  The main structure itself is the largest all wooden structure in existence.  Engineers to this day I guess still learn about this structure, and how the monument was made with only wood (no nails or anything).  It is interesting to see all of these monuments and just feel the environment around this space.  Even though many of the monuments have been re-built or renovated so much that there might not be much left of the original... it is still captivating, and it gives you a good ground to imagine it back in the day.

Enter...

I loved all of these tiled roof pieces, each end had a dragon design.  The dragon symbolized the emperor (imperial strength / power).

Temple of Heaven

The painting on all of the wood was absolutly beautiful.  I am sure all of this has been re-done, but just the work that must go into maintaining all of this outdoor art is astounding.

A cornerstone for the temples were sacrifices, these fire pits were used in the ceremony.  They were throughout the grounds around each of the different temples.

Stone carvings were prominent around the temples. They contained the dragon (emperor - imperial power), and clouds (which were coupled with the dragon for the harvest - since clouds were for good luck, and the dragon had the power to bring the clouds and the rain: so the two put together was a very strong symbol for this temple who's purpose was to bring the rain and have a good harvest), and the phoenix (empress - counterpart to the dragon).

There were so many cool gazebos around the park area.  I spent the last couple hours of daylight just wandering around and looking at them all.

 

Once it started to get dark I thought I would be tricky and go out of the other entrance to the park area and find a metro over there.  However, at this point I had not picked up a map (besides a subway map) from the hotel so I wasn't 100% sure where one would be.  But tired, and slightly delirious me (from being up for so many hours and totally not being acclimated to the timezone I was in..) decided to just wander around the outside of the temple, because clearly there had to be another metro stop somewhere nearby... Well about 45 minutes later I was still wandering, and couldn't even see the wall lining the temple grounds anymore... Very hard to ask for directions when no one speaks English.  Luckily I found a hotel and went in and the lady called her manager to come down and he told me how to get home (hop on the bus for a couple stops and then get off at the metro stop).  He didn't seem to trust I knew what he was saying though, so he wrote down (in Chinese), step by step, what I needed to do so that if I was confused or lost again, I could show someone the paper and they could point me the way.  I didn't need the paper, as getting on the bus and seeing the metro was easy enough, but it sure was nice of him to go to the trouble. 

After I got back to the hotel I grabbed some German food for dinner and headed to bed to crash.  Luckily, staying up all day wandering around I managed to pretty much beat the jet-lag. I slept all through the night, and slept hard.

Day #2:  Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City adventure.  I spent all day wandering around the grounds and just taking in the environment.  I brought a book and just hung out reading for a long time too.

Tiananmen Square - has a very powerful feeling it it.  Kind of eerie feeling to think of all that has happened here, among others, all the protests that have taken place... There are so many armed guards around this place it was kind or creepy.  Was much nicer when I made it through into the Forbidden City...

 The Forbidden City - my afternoon exploration

On either side of many of the entrances were two guardian lions.  One was masculine, with the world under his paw - power; and one was feminine, with a cub under her paw - fertility.  You could see these all over the place in China, I loved them  :-)

Not sure why some of the statues looked electrocuted, but they were my favorite  :-D

Then the rest of my team arrived and work began... Was quite an interesting week.  Communication issues were rampant. A good learning / growing experience though, trying to figure out other ways to explain things (sometimes with pictures / diagrams).  Everyone was very nice though, which made the experience much more enjoyable.  We worked hard, and ate very good (mostly for very reasonable prices).  Except when we went out with a couple people from the office they of course made us eat strange things...

Strange dish #1 - spicy chicken feet.. YUCK.  I really barely gagged it down.  I was trying so hard to not make a face or anything, and just be a good sport about it, but alas, my face gave me away and the waitress came over laughing asking if I was alright.  Ugh, I suck.  But man, it was a rubbery foot I was eating... Ick.  Still, I have such an appreciation for those who eat all parts of the animal and don't let anything go to waste. I am just not strong enough to be one of those people.

 Strange dish #2 was actually at a Japanese restaurant we went to.  Fried shrimp heads.  This was actually alright as it was just a crispy thing that you crunched, I think it helped that I couldn't really tell what it was, and I didn't eat much of the legs.  It was after I was done eating them that I figured out really what it was that I had just eaten. ha.

I enjoyed the Japanese restaurants the most I think, I love those places where you have your own chef who is cooking right in front of you.  Entertainment all meal.  I need to eat more places like this at home too. This whole trip I tried to be so good about food, and just eat whatever it was that was put in front of me. And just not ask too many questions.  Overall I ate very well and tried a bunch of interesting dishes.  :-)

And I saved the best for last...  The Great Wall!!!!  They (the girls in our China office, and the hotel staff) made me nervous about doing the long 7 1/2 mile trek I was planning on doing between two towns.  Which sounded amazing because then I could get away from the tourists more and experience something most people don't get to.  But they made good points about safety when I am hiking places where the reconstruction is not as complete, and if I am hiking by myself and anything happens it would not be good.  Also, hiring a car and just giving him written instructions (as most drivers understand no English, written or verbal) seemed a bit sketchy.  So instead I joined a small tour (9 people) and we headed out for the day.  The highlight was when we reached the wall, we spent a couple hours hiking the Mutianyu section of the wall.  Less touristy than the Badaling section which is closest to the city and is the easiest/ most restored so that is where most of the people go.  Still, there were a zillion people around here, so I hiked far away from the starting point on the wall to get away from all the masses.  Still the wall is so large even at the beginning it wasn't too bad with the people.  The awesomeness of the wall kind of takes away the focus of everything else.  Even with just an hour and a half hike on the wall I was soooo tired the end of the day, my knees were shaking, and the next couple days I had sore legs from the stairs.  Quite an up and down trek.  Wish I had more time  :-)

We did a little stop at the Olympic park, which was kind of interesting, but really just felt too touristy now. Statue for the Olympics. I liked this better than anything else around there  ;-p

At the beginning of the excursion we stopped for a tour of a jade factory, which was fun for a few minutes.  But after that I was ready to get on with it and get up to the Great Wall.  I know this is how the tour companies really make their money, as I am sure they get paid off by the places to stop their tour bus there.  So just had to be a good sport and admire the pretty pieces, and try to not be too impatient  ;-p

At the end of the day excursion we stopped for a tea party and drank some traditional Chinese teas.  Which was really quite fun, to see how you were supposed to drink all these different kinds.  Half of the teas though are too floral for me, it just tastes too strange to drink flowers to me.  But still was fun. Overall the trip was interesting and fun, was good to have a Chinese guide (who spoke excellent English) who could give you history of things and tell you things you otherwise wouldn't have known.  Hopefully if I go to China again though, I can have someone else there with me who will want to do a long hike on the wall... Then I can get more time to soak that all in  :-)

My Beijing tour ended here... Now back home for a while before the next adventure begins... I think I am going to be a pretty lazy lump and really recharge my batteries. 

August Adventures

Well this has been a wild and crazy month back!!!  Home exactly one month before hitting the road again!  We had the Skanderborg Music festival where everyone in our group got passes to get in, and some drink/food money!  Was really a lot of fun!  And we got to see Ozzy, I mean my life is complete now.. haha.  Well the boys seemed to get extra excited at least  ;-)

The following week.... My first race!  I am so proud!!!  I ran in a relay with 5 other people, and we all ran the same 5 km lap.  Was really fun to be in the competitive atmosphere, totally addictive!  I can see how people can do these small relays often!  I will have to keep it up now I think (until my knees fail me eventually...).  At the end of the race a couple of the other girls and I made a deal that we need to run the Aarhus half marathon next June!  So that will keep up the training over the winter, and spring.  Somehow I will have to learn how to run in the snow and not freeze, or slip and fall.  Really I think the biggest issue is going to be getting the motivation to get out there and run, even though it is dark, and snowing!

We were competing against the other mixed gender team from the Reporting and Compliance group, the one with Steve and Carol on it.  Really we couldn't have asked for a closer race, we lost to the other team by 9 seconds!!!!  Mark who was running our last leg got passed on the home stretch, was so close!  So proud that we all did so well though!  Everyone on my team ran it in less than 30 minutes, and for us I think that is really good! 

We were a team of 3 girls and 2 guys, and we lost to a team with 2 girls and 3 guys... so I would say we were top competitors  :-D

I can't wait for the next one!  I have my number on the wall to keep up my motivation!!!

Then Nate took me to Germany for the HighField music festival. Awesome birthday present!  We tried a bit to pretend like we were young... However we stayed in a hotel room, thank goodness... the camp grounds at the music festival were trashed, and full of trashed people!  Boys peeing everywhere, and outhouses that smelled horrible!!!  So thank goodness for a clean place to go back to at night and hang out around in the morning.  We took a nice walk around one of the lakes in the morning, and read our books for a bit... Before we headed into the madness.  We saw some pretty good music on Saturday, Yellowcard and The Kooks were awesome!  There were some others that were just ok that day... Headliner was Thirty Seconds to Mars, who I had to stay for since it is Jared Leto!!  He was my favorite when I was young!!!  Soooo good looking... And so was entertaining on stage in a comical way (I am sure that is not what he was really going for).  He was wearing some long black parka thing, and sunglasses (at 11pm)... And then proceeded to forget his lyrics!  Was amazing!  That was the point we decided we had seen enough.. he was singing one thing, and tried to nonchalantly turn around to look at the words that were part of the "visual background" of his show.. and immediately switched to what he really should have been saying... classic... so pretty.... soooo not smart!

Sunday was absolutely awesome though!  We saw so many good groups!  No Use For a Name, Deftones, Jimmy Eat World, Dropkick Murphys, and the headliner on Sunday.... - Foo Fighters - did not disappoint!!!  We had a really good time!  We were the smart old festival goers though... We drank water (seriously Saturday we both had a drink, but Sunday there was not time for that), but not too much because the outhouses were disgusting (really - what do people do in there?  how hard is it to get your business into the toilet???).  And staked out a spot against the railing so we had a bit of space and could see perfectly!  Not the front railing right by the stage as that is where the drunk psychos were moshing, and crowd surfing... but the second row railing just outside of all that madness where there was another layer of security (containing the wild ones in one area), so we were about 50 feet from stage probably, LOVED IT!  Standing for that long over the two days though is brutal!!  My feet were soooo sore and tired!  Not sure if we will do another festival, but this one sure was a blast.

This is what I have been dealing with for the last week... oh yea, gangster Nate... with a really bad cold    

Have been trying soooo hard to not get his sickness before this adventure.. so far so good, unless it is lying dormant for when I am actually on vacation.  Will be a replay of the Ireland holiday!  Except this time it is in the sun and warmth so I think that I can cook it out of me faster  ;-p

"Home"

Now I know after being in Aarhus for 11 months you would think that this would be "home", but it just will never be my real "home".  Portland just feels like home, and so many people that I love so dearly are there. 
Even though when I was leaving I was saying I was heading back home too.. so clearly my heart is just split.. I am lucky to have love in both places.

Wild crash ride at home.  Ran around like a mad woman spending as much time as I could with everyone I miss soooo much.  Came back to Denmark feeling like I needed to sleep for about a week, but was so worth it.  Miss everyone so much it hurts sometimes.  Just keep having to remind myself of the crazy adventure I am on, and all the fun things I am still going to do while over here!!!  Thursday I head to Italy to meet Jess for a week before we head to Greece for a week too!  2 weeks of vacation is so close I can taste it!  :-D

Somehow I didn't feel the need to take pictures of everything I was doing, which I totally should have... Guess those pictures will just be in my head for me.

First things first.  I turned 30 this year!  So clearly I had to go home to spend that event with all my girls.  Just somehow wouldn't have been the same without them.  Jess planned a lovely night at the Melting Pot and we all got together and ate way too much food (as seems to always happen there, but is sooo good every time)

Lil Sis and I, love you Kins.

Besties! 

 Mmmmm, melted cheese for appetizer, and melted chocolate for desert!!  num num num

Next we were on to Vegas!!!  Had to have a crazy bachelorette weekend for Sara to send her off into her matrimonials in style.  I am still shocked how much VIP treatment we receive even though we are all right around 30.  Guess getting such a large group of good natured girls together, who are a lot of fun, will get you a long way.  We had so many laughs, and so much fun playing together!!!  And soooo little sleep.  Brit, still swearing off trips with you for a while, we are bad news together!

Yay Lady Wolf Pack!!!!!  Watch out Vegas, here we come!

Mitch and his ladies, he made sure we were well taken care of  :-)

Last weekend before leaving was Sara's wedding, which was a crazy awesome event in it's self!!!  Epic schenanagins for sure!

We started the weekend off with a little brewfest on Thursday and Friday nights!  So much fun to go and taste so many delicious beers!  Not quite the same as over here, that's for sure.  Main option is Carlsberg, and that gets old real fast.  We are so spoiled in the pacific northwest with all the micro-brews we have!!!

And of course I had to spend some time with my favorite little girl.  Princess Layla is getting so big!  She is such a little domestic bee already, "helping" mom in the kitchen. :-D

Baby Jack, such an adorable baby, I mean what else could be expected with those gorgeous parents.  Linds is going to have her hands full with both I am sure. Glad I get to be part of it.  Hard to not be around while they are getting bigger that's for sure.

I spent a couple evenings with Casey's little boy Kale too, but didn't get any pictures  :(

Next visit I will have to be better about that!

I didn't get to see everyone I wanted to, but hopefully at Christmas we can make up for that!!!  I miss eveyone so much already!  Such a large piece of my heart is missing when you all are so far away.  What an amazing trip though, makes me appreciate all the beautiful people I have in my life that have enriched it so much.  Cheers.