My Semester Abroad

Today we went to the Forbidden City and to Bei Hua Park. The Forbidden City was mostly under construction for the Olympics, but it was phenomenal nonetheless. Bei Hua Park surrounds a very large lake (which I think would be very good choice for a regatta). WeiWei said it a popular place for kids our age to go on dates--they go rent paddle boats and walk around the park.

On the north side we saw a man painting Chinese characters with a giant homemade calligraphy pen. He let us try writing our Chinese names and told me I looked funny when I wrote with my left hand. I think it is great how leisure and recreation are so important here, how they dedicated this beautiful and scenic lake--which reminds me of Lake Whatcom--entirely to leisurly activities. In one of the gazebos along the park we saw a man playing folk songs on the er hu (a two-stringed instrument similar to the violin) and other adults would stop by and sing along.

Today was EXTREMELY hot and humid, but we still hiked up the summer palace and it was most definitely worth it. After that we went to the zoo and saw pandas. More later.

We arrived today at the Beijing Internatonal Airport at about 4 p.m. local time (1 a.m. Seattle time) but we weren't really interested in resting. After six months of planning, it was too exciting to just arrive and go straight to sleep!

Driving toward our host university was so amazing! It was strange how so many brand-new high rises and large office buildings were existing in the same space as older neighborhoods that are crumbling into dust and sand--right across the street from one another.

The professor hosting us at the university introduced us to our student host, WeiWei, and arranged a large meal at the hotel restaurant. I wouldn't be exaggerating to say it felt like eating like royalty; each dish was more delicious than the one before. The most interesting thing we ate, though, wasn't even that exotic: it grows in the backyard of my house in Bellingham--we ate fern! They lightly boiled it, put a type of vineger (I think) on it, and served it chilled. It was AMAZING. We made a rule to try new things every day, and not eat the same dish more than twice this week, though we made an exception for the fern.

My boyfriend, Charles, arrived in Argentina just in time for a World Cup game and my birthday. I picked him up and we went straight to a cafe to watch the game. Charles brought Argentina some luck because they won 6-0 against Serbia and Montenegro. We donned some Argentine gear and headed over to the obelisco for the celebrations, which were fantastic and over the top, despite it being the middle of a work day.

Later, we hopped on a bus to Sierra de la Ventana, a small mountain town in the Buenos Aires province. As luck would have it, I forgot the address of our accommodation, but fortunately we were staying at the zoo. "Eco-Parque Kooch," to be exact, but all of the signs we followed led us to the zoo.

We arrived at 6:30 a.m., so the splendor of the zoo was hidden in the darkness, and we headed off to bed. At about 9 a.m., the caretaker woke us when she came to our cabin to see us by the light of day. Her hand was wrapped in toilet paper and, by the looks of things, was bleeding profusely. When we asked what happened she told us that one of the monkeys had escaped and attacked her.

We rushed quickly to to see this dangerous creature and found the caretaker's ladder still propped up against the monkey hit.

At Chateau de Versailles, I'm sitting next to Italians eating their baguettes. The former royal headquarters are immense and they're playing opera music over the loudspeakers to add to the regal atmosphere.

Adorable little French kids are sneaking looks at me and Yasemin. We're reading in the grass near one of the rectangular pools in the Versailles Gardens. They heard us speaking English and dash up every now and then and say something to us in French. Then their parents try to instruct them in English.

Parent: "Jean-Paul, say, 'How are you?'"

Jean-Paul: (Giggles and runs away)

A toddler just waddled up to me and said...something. I folded a little paper airplane and a game of catch evolved. His father played the role of translator between us, but all the little guy would say is, "Avion avion!" ("Airplane, airplane!") Bon garcon!

Yasemin and I justify our constant consumption of tarts and cafe cremes with the endless amount of walking we do every day; surely the calories must be a wash?

Our hostel has no electricity in the outlets and the walls are peeling white flakes of paint from the walls and ceiling. There's a little computer station downstairs where you can buy six minutes of Internet for a euro. I ran out of time at the end and just barely managed to send my parents the message "In Paris. Good." before my account shut down.

We took in L'Arc de Triomphe, the immense victory arch that Napoleon commissioned in 1810. We had to walk through a rather apartment filled area to get there. The buildings here are so ornate and each window has a small balcony. Reminds me of New Orleans, only the balconies here are free of drunk merriment and flower pots instead inhabit the curvy metal fenced in ledges.

I heard something about the World Cup, but really, by the looks of things around here you would have no idea it was going on. That sentence might just be the understatement of my lifetime. To say that soccer is an integral aspect of life for the Argentines is not unfair to say. There is enough emotion running in this city when the two local rivals, River and Boca, play each other. I cannot imagine what it will look like to see all that emotion combined, rooting for one cause. The next several weeks will be truly an experience.

For the first game I went to a Restaurant/Bar with some friends to partake in the festivities. There were 5 televisions in a relatively small space, but the owners apparently wanted to make sure that people could view the game from all angles. The crowd was mostly foreigners, except for two very excited Argentine pre-teens who somehow managed to get their hands on a beer mid-way through the game. Once the waitresses noticed this three of them came to chastise the girls and took their beer away. This, however, did not take away from their excitement and passion about the game. They would jump up, scream, hug each other and were almost in tears with each Argentine goal.

After the game was over my friend Adam and I headed over to the Obelisco, one of the most famous monuments in Buenos Aires. It is also conveniently the location for the congregation of fans and the celebration of a soccer victory. This party was amazing! There was a band there with an assortment of brass instruments and many drums, the crowd would spontaneously break into song, everyone dancing, singing, lighting firecrackers, and just generally having the time of their lives.

The next Argentine game is Friday morning; I imagine that many people will be skipping work and school to watch the game, and hopefully partake in the celebration festivities afterwards!

So, life down here has been relatively uneventful in the past few weeks. That is, if writing papers, doing research and making presentations can be described as uneventful. I have been pretty successful in my school work these days. I wrote a 10 page paper in Spanish all by myself!

The only real adventure I've had of late was a trip with my program across the Rio de la Plata to Uruguay. We went to a small town called Colonia; it's a sweet little place which is a popular weekend destination for wealthy Argentines. It poured all day on Saturday, which put a damper on some of the activities, but Sunday was perfect blue skies. I was too scared to rent a moped — a combination of the rain and the cobblestone streets, the answer just seemed like a big no. I had some lovely typical Uruguayan meals; one of them was chivito, a type of fancy hamburger. The beefsteak was adorned with lettuce, tomato, cheese, ham and a fried egg. It was surprisingly delicious!

More exciting adventures are to come when my finals are over, and possibly even sooner when my boyfriend arrives.