Finally, I have the time (and motivation) to write the entry on National Holiday. I actually really don't have much motivation other than I am super bored, I don't feel like studying, I can't register for winter classes yet, and I'm a little upset (will be addressed later) so here it goes:
As I said before, National Holiday had its ups and downs. We spent a day traveling to Qingdao. We took a ferry to Yantai, which was cool. It had a nice common room where we spent most of our time. I got some nice coffee and we played Rummy and Euchre. Yantai was a pain in the ass. We had to try to find the bus station. We ended up at the train station and had to walk twenty minutes to the bus station. We got there just in time to catch the three hour bus to Qingdao. Unfortunately for us, this bus dropped us off on the opposite side of the city from where our hostel was. So we wandered around until we caught a public bus that got us near to where we were supposed to be. We finally found our hostel and got everything taken care of. Marisa, Sarah, and I stayed in a room with nine other people. It was very unpleasant. Marisa and I wimped out the next night and ended up getting a much nicer hotel. Oh well.
Qingdao was pretty cool. We got to tour the TsingTao brewery. Qingdao was a German-occupied port for a while so homesick Germans founded the brewery and when they left, they just handed it over to the Chinese. Everyone got to taste free beer. I gave mine to Marisa. We also went to the Lennon bar, a Beatles themed bar that had a live Chinese band who played classic American rock, like CCR, Led Zeppelin, and Bon Jovi. They even played all 9 minutes of Free Bird. The food was awesome too. Most of the time we were in Qingdao we spend just wandering around and exploring. I wish we could've seen more interesting things, but alas, nothing. I also didn't get to see Josh near enough. Poor planning on our part. So we stayed in Qingdao three or four days (I'm still too
lazy to figure it out right now), Josh left a day before we did (sad
panda), then we went to Tai'an.
We got up early to catch a train to Tai'an, which is at the foot of Taishan, which
is basically Mt. Tai. Our hostel in Tai'an was a million times better. It was beautiful. Coby ended up losing his coat and his bank card by leaving it on the train. Dumbass. Anyways, we climbed the mountain the first day we were there. It was 6,666 steps of pure agony,
but now I can say I climbed one of the more famous mountains in China.
Well, according to the Chinese, it's famous. Okay, well, we climbed up halfway and took a ski lift to the top, and then we climbed down halfway before taking a bus the rest of the way down, but still. It sucked. Before I climbed that beast, we went to the Dai Temple, which was pretty, but at this point all of the temples I am visiting are starting to look the same. Also, we ate street food, which was super bad for us, but super delicious.
The next day we went to
Qufu, which is Confucius' hometown. That was cool. We got to see where Confucius did all his business, where his family lived, and finally his grave. His cemetery was much prettier than anything I've ever seen in China. It was green with rolling mounds where bodies were buried. Their tombstones were tall and interesting and it was just so peaceful there. Minus the over-sized golf carts zooming around giving tours to lazy people. That night we went
back to Qingdao. The train ride was long and fairly uneventful, but the cab we tried to take back had no idea where he was going so we almost missed our check-in time.
Our last day in Qingdao was pretty cool. We basically spent it drinking and playing cards. We got to meet some pretty cool Chinese people. I got to talk to some Swiss people in German and I made friends with a Danish girl named Stence. She was awesome. The trip home was a bitch. It seemed to take forever. We got to Yantai, where we would catch our ferry back home, at 10 in the morning. We didn't get back here until almost 10 at night. It was so long. And the ferry ride sucked nuts because the common area was closed so we had to stay in our rooms and try to play cards. LAME. But that was basically it. Nothing much to it.
Near the end of November, I'm going to Beijing. I figured you all would kill me if I went to China and didn't even see the Great Wall, so I'm making a special trip for it. :) I'll keep you guys updated.
Oh yeah. The reason I'm upset: One of the students I've been talking to named Devil told me he loved me last night. That basically freaked me out. A) We text. We almost never talk in person unless I call on him in class. B)No way he loves me. He's known me less than two months C) He has a girlfriend. WTF. So I'm not sad upset or angry. I'm just confused and frustrated because I'm at a complete loss for words. I don't know what to tell him. So last night I just told him that I was tired and that we should talk tomorrow. He just replied, "Maybe. Goodnight." So I'm so weirded out I don't know what to do. UGH. Boys are so stupid!
