This trip was one of the first ones I have ever been on where I got to the airport completely on my own! I took the subway to the airport express in Beijing. I thought I missed a stop and was beginning to freak out a little bit, but I was fine I got there just on time. I talked to an Israeli man and a Chinese college student on the express train.This is why I almost missed my stop. So I will always be more conscious of where I am an not get too distracted. It is really interesting to get foreign opinions about things we think we have all figured out; ideas on religion, politics, and the world economy. As the saying goes, "True knowledge lies in knowing that you know nothing." This is very true, and I am becoming more knowledgeable in this notion day by day. I don't want to admit that I am beginning to feel any tinge of culture shock. I thought that all these years of studying Chinese has made me immune. However, I would be lying. My Chinese is grossly sub-par. To put it mildly, I have a long way to go! But, I will just keep writing new words in my little notebook everyday, and hopefully all of those words will one day amount to a meaningful conversation.
But anyways, back to Chinese new year! The first day after I got there, we drove along Ya Long Wan, one of the largest beaches and a huge tourist attraction. "We" is me, my host father, his brother, and their father and step-mother. Even though I could only communicate superficially with them, I feel that we connected. I was able to share with them a little bit of my culture, and they, in turn, shared a LOT of theirs. I shared their new year's dinner with them and helped bao jiaozi 包 饺子. Being in the "Hawaii" of China for the new year was just so awesome! I feel like it was such a blessing to be able to go to such a cool place! One thing that you have to know about the Chinese during the new year is that they LOVE their fireworks! Austin, I think you should come to China next Chinese new year, you would probably blow yourself up, but have a lot of fun doing it! Gunpowder was one of China's big inventions that they introduced to the world. And boy did they put it to good use! They put our new year and Independence Day to shame! I guess fireworks lihua(I don't know the character) that go up into the air are pretty expensive, so most Chinese just buy rolls and rolls of firecrackers bianpao 鞭 炮. If I didn't know any better, I would think I was in a war-zone all night long. It was cool to see all of the Chinese celebrate. I didn't get much sleep either, but that's ok. I was just thankful for the experience and to be in Hainan! :-)
The second day we took a cable car to the top of what they call "Dog Mountain." It gave us a 360 degree panoramic view of Hainan which was really awesome. It was really sunny and nice outside! There were monkeys too! I love monkeys, but I guess these ones sometimes attack people, so I reluctantly kept my distance. I really didn't want to go back to the freezing Beijing weather. Afterward, I went to see the #2 Marketplace 第二市场. Unfortunately, it was closed, but it was interesting to see some places in Sanya that not many tourists go to. I didn't get the opportunity to visit Fu Ming, one of the close friends of my sister's boyfriend, but I hope that we can meet if I ever go back! I attached a LOT of pictures, so I hope they all show up! 春节快乐！
Chinese Word of the Day
Bai Nian 拜年 ： To wish someone a Happy New Year
Verse of the Day
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