It's a beautiful Saturday evening and I'm going to wander out soon for some dinner, but I thought I'd do a little photo-uploading first. We've been here a month now--very exciting! School is going well and Chinese gets better all the time. I have favorite restaurants and study places and daily routines. I can't believe how quickly the time's going. Really, I know everyone always says that, but it's crazy how fast the weeks pass. I could say more, of course. But I've decided to post some photos from the last few weeks instead. Some may be replicas from the slideshow, but I don't think that worked too well anyways, so who's gonna know the difference. I hopes you likes...
This is the gang: Brett, Nick, M, Rebecca
The most cuddly zoo pandas in the world!
This was the view from my living room window one snowy Beijing morning. My favorite noodle place is in the strip of tiny buildings down to the left.
Bamboo walkway at the most wonderful park near our school.
Great Wall Success!
Printed windows at the Palace Museum in the Forbidden City. We had a field trip here for our religion class, 'The Sacred in China'.
A certain excited Temple of Heaven visitor.
View of the enormous Forbidden City from beautiful Jingshan Park. As it gets warmer and I get better at the bus system I think I will go here often to wander around and read my books.
Drinking tea with Dekyi and Dan at Dan's place. Dekyi is our friend and Tibetan instructor. Dan is the program director and head professor for our anthropology classes.
Looking down a narrow Beijing hutong. Beijing is famous for these long, neighborhood alleys, first established in the Zhou dynasty over 600 years ago. We visited the well-known (and touristy) Shichaha hutong in our 'Social and Cultural Transformation in Contemporary China' class.
Today the hutongs house a hugely significant proportion of Beijing's population. Many families and their businesses have been there for generations.
Sitting next to a lake at the park near our school. There's lots of small lakes here, and people walk and fly kites and gather to sing Chinese songs.
Hanging out at the park on the first of many warm days to come!
So much love to you all!
Makenzie
