Trip to Hangzhou!

     Not long after our internships started, one of my friends and I made a trip out to the beautiful Hangzhou! Although Hangzhou may not be a city well known to foreigners, however, it is well worth the visit. In my opinion, Hangzhou is the most aesthetically pleasing and scenic city I have been to in Eastern China, and I'm sure the pictures I took will make it obvious why!

The sun setting on West Lake

     Since we only had the weekend to see Hangzhou, we decided to explore the famous West Lake first, being that it was a must-see for the both of us. We started the walk around the lake around sunset, which made for spectacular views and pictures. It was a real pleasure to finally see some mountains (I didn't realize how much I would miss the mountains back home), in pair with the many pagodas that encircled the lake (I think you can visit the pagodas during the day for a small fee).
     After the sun set, we wandered around the lake until we found a higher end restaurant that served local dishes. However, I would warn against eating near the West Lake; there aren't that many options, and although the food was flavorful and well made, it was far too expensive for what it was (probably because of its proximity to the lake).                                                                                                                                                                

A pagoda seen on our walk around West Lake

      The next day, my friend and I decided to spend time at an attraction that wasn't so famous, and settled on the Xixi Wetlands. Since I came to Hangzhou specifically to see nature, I felt as if the Xixi Wetlands was a much better place to spend the day at compared to the West lake; there seemed to be more more flora and fauna in and around the wetland, in addition to being overall more quiet and calming. Also, there are many different attractions in the wetland; after wandering through the ponds and the reeds, listening to older folks talk and play music, we stumbled on what seemed to be an old town that was repurposed into a tourist destination, full of fun little shops, restaurants; a glorious mesh between the marshy wetlands and the old architecture.

Here's a bonus picture of some of the fauna we
saw in the wetland. I have no idea what that guy
caught in that net, but it looked a lot like an eel.
He started waiving the creature around, much to
the dismay of the little boy in the dark blue shirt
who shyly exclaimed "That's enough!
Put him back, please."

     As quickly as our adventure started, it had to come to an end. Visiting Hangzhou was definitely a worthwhile trip; I wish I could have stayed another day to see where the famous Jack Ma, founder of Alibaba, got his start, or had the opportunity to venture out to the neighboring city of Shaoxing to see where Lu Xun, the famous Chinese writer, was born, or find out where the nearby tea gardens are located. However, I will have to save those wishes for another trip at another time.

We climbed up a pagoda at the
old town in the wetland to get to this view!

     As always, thank you for reading! Feel free to comment and as questions!

My Internship Thus Far!

     So far, working at DeTao in their Environmental Finance wing has been great! There are only two other people who work in my wing (and no other interns! Wow!), and they have both been very eager to help me out with my first few projects and to get to know me; I am very satisfied with my work environment thus far!
     Speaking of my first projects, my most favorite has been one involving sustainable fashion. In essence, my responsibilities concerning this project have been to conduct research about the broad topic of sustainable fashion, condense my findings into something that might be used in a lecture (the ultimate outcome of this project is to present my findings to a class of design students), and translate my final draft into Mandarin. Listed below is a copy of the final draft:

https://sites.google.com/view/sustainable-fashions/home

     All in all, I am very happy with the responsibilities I have been given. I feel as if I am creating something of use as opposed to waisting my time doing what is traditionally considered "intern work",  such as fetching coffees or mindless copying and pasting, or something of that sort.
     This concludes my blogpost for this week, and as always, thank you for reading! Stay tuned for more updates on my future work projects, how living in Shanghai is panning out, and excursions I am planning with some friends around China!

Fun in Shanghai!

Posing with decorations outside of a mall

     After moving to Shanghai, I was excited to see all the attractions it had to offer! Although I was just in Shanghai for the Mid-Autumn festival, there were still so many places I hadn't seen! In addition to visiting some of the many big malls in Shanghai, my friend Melissa and I visited the largest Starbucks in the World!

Everything inside the largest
Starbucks in the world was
ridiculously expensive ($20 USD
for a coffee drink, no thank you), but the
interior was simply stunning!

We also went to IKEA to get a few pieces of furniture for my new apartment (sadly, I did not take any pictures in the IKEA, and would definitely recommend it as a great place to explore, especially when homesick).

Part of the interior to the Shanghai Natural History Museum

         However, my favorite attraction that we visited was the Shanghai Natural History Museum. Located within the stunning Jing'an Sculpture park, the Shanghai Natural History Museum is home to many fantastical, and sometimes curious exhibits. For example, in the museum, there were many exhibits showing off live animals (there were even opportunities to touch horseshoe crabs!) and the architecture was simply magnificent, as can be seen in the picture below. With that being said, perhaps my favorite part of the museum might be considered a little bit of a strange choice: the poorly taxidermied animals.

What ah hysterically ugly looking lion

     Maybe it was due to the sheer number of taxidermied animals (there were multiple exhibits dedicated to showing them off), but I couldn't help but laugh at the numerous bulging eyes and bloated faces staring at me.

Why is this walrus so smooth? Don't walruses have wrinkles?

   
     With this being said, maybe the Shanghai Natural History Museum isn't for everybody. However, if you find yourself in Shanghai looking for an off-beat adventure, I would surely recommend Shanghai Natural History Museum.
     This concludes my blogpost for this week! Stay tuned to hear about the first few days of my internship, and as always, thank you for reading, and feel free to post any questions or comments you might have!

Taiwan Spring Festival Trip!

A pic of the two of us in Da'an Forest Park in Taipei!
Da'an Forest Park is located in the Gongguan district, and
offers a great escape from the hustle and bustle of the city.
In addition to being a great place to take walks, there are
also a great deal of unique looking birds that inhabit the
park all year round!

     This past year, I went to Taiwan during the Spring Festival with my boyfriend Jacob. We decided to go to Taiwan for a multitude of reasons: This was Jacob's first time going out of the country, and I figured it would be a good idea to show him a place I was very familiar with (I've lived in Taipei for a cumulative total of about 6 months between 2015 and 2016), and I was not eager to plan a trip to a place that I've never been before, and where I didn't speak the local language. In addition, Taiwan, specifically Taipei, is still one of my most favorite places I've ever been to, and after reading this blogpost, I'm sure you'll see why!
                                                                         

Jiufen Old Street
Jiufen Old Street is a night market about an hour outside of
Taipei with spectacular views, especially during sunset!
Many claim that the movie "Spirited Away" takes place in
Jiufen. However, these claims have never been substantiated

     Over the course of our two week trip, we stuck almost exclusively around Taipei, but
there was no shortage of things to do, even during the Spring Festival! I specifically mention the Spring Festival because, during this holiday, many take time off of work to spend time with their families, so many stores, restaurants etc. are closed for the majority of the week.

      Every day we spent in Taiwan, we went to two or three different attractions, so it would be impossible to put up pictures of every place we went to, much less describe every single thing that we did! Therefore, I found it easiest to post some of my favorite photos with a quick description.

Maokong Gondola Ride
The Maokong Gondola Ride is located near the Taipei Zoo,
and offers scenic views of the countryside, places to sit and
drink tea at the top of the mountain, as well as many hiking
trails.

Other places we visited:

• Sun Yat Sen Memorial
• Taipei 101
• Huashan1914 Creative Park
• XimenDing
• ATT 4 Fun
• Syntrend
• Raohe Night Market
• Danshui Night Market
• Beitou Hot Springs
• Color Gallery
• Gongguan Night Market
• National Taiwan University
• Shilin Night Market

Chiangkai Shek Memorial
The Chiangkai Shek Memorial, in my opinion, is one of the
most beautiful places to visit within the city, and is a must
see when traveling in Taipei! However, over the years,
Chiangkai Shek has been viewed more and more as a
controversial figure in Taiwan, and I would advise
researching his legacy before visiting. 

Gudetama Cafe
This is a cafe that celebrates everything Gudetama,
my favorite Sanrio character! The decor, the food, and
everything in betweenis plastered with his face,
and makes for a great place to take
photos. 

     That concludes my Taiwan blogpost, but please feel free to ask more about our trip or about any of the many attractions we visited during our stay in Taipei! As always, thank you for reading!

Moving to Shanghai

Quick Note: I'm sure my readers have noticed that there has been a discrepancy in the timing of my posts, meaning that I did not make any posts from January to August; this is because my computer died, and I was not very inclined to continue to make blog posts from my phone. Thus, all of my posts from here on out will be detailing my experiences from January onward!

     Hi all! In this blogpost, I plan to outline my experience moving to Shanghai, i.e. finding housing and settling in and will give more detail about my internship in a future post!

     First off, moving to Shanghai was no easy task. My program offered no assistance to help me find places to live in Shanghai, so I had to start from square one. Luckily, I had some friends in Shanghai who had moved there two months prior, and were willing to connect me with a few real estate agents in the area. 

     However, for those who are looking to move to any city in China who are looking for a place to live and do not have realtor connections, do not fear! Lianjia (连家）is a very prevalent real estate company with locations all throughout China. Just drop into the store most convenient for you to get to and their employees can help you find houses in the area, no appointment needed! 

     After I made an appointment to meet with a real estate agent, we looked at a few houses in close proximity to my place of work. Within an hour of looking, I found an apartment I liked! Although it wasn't the best apartment ever, the rent was cheap ($2300 RMB, or a little more than $350 a month), and the landlord was very accommodating. I did have quite a few roommates though who moved in and out throughout the course of my time there, but luckily most of them tended to keep to themselves, and my room had it's own bathroom and wash machine, so I didn't have to deal with their messes. 

     A major reason I was able to find a house in Shanghai so quickly for such a low price is because, although I was technically living in Shanghai, I was waaaaay out in the middle of nowhere (it took me about an hour and a half to get to the hustling bustling center of Shanghai). I am sure that, in the heart of Shanghai, finding housing might be much more frustrating. However, many internships can be very accommodating; some will provide housing for their interns!

     Although I did not plan on staying in that location for very long (only about 5 or 6 months), I still wanted to make my little apartment mine and furnish it with a few things here and there! Luckily, there was an Ikea relatively close to my house (about an hour or so) with a ton of cheap organizing tools to make my little apartment feel more homey. 

     As for moving my stuff from Nanjing to Shanghai, I played the safe route and took a few trips back and forth to transfer my stuff. Luckily, I had my friend Melissa to help me (we also toured around Shanghai and saw some very interesting sites, which I will share in a future blogpost). On the other hand, some people I know preferred to use 快递, a delivery service, to ship their stuff. I chose not to because I have heard tales of people losing their stuff in the mail!

     Thanks for reading! Please feel free to ask any questions or make comments! In my next post, I will be discussing my Taiwan Trip during the Spring Festival. 

    

Things I Will Miss About Nanjing!

     During my time in Nanjing, I struggled a lot, but it was getting out and exploring new places with my friends that really made my time in Nanjing worthwhile. Thus, here is a list of my favorite places in Nanjing!

Alison and I taking pics at
the park!

Cathrine Park: Cathrine Park is a small shopping complex (mostly underground) with a small garden! It's a great place to kill some time in the evenings or get a bite to eat (hot pot anyone?). There are also a few bars and a club in that area (Miu) if that tickles your fancy! If not, however, the litchi mall is right across the street with some more cool little stores to check out.

Amy and I hugging the Line Friends Bear
in all of its holiday glory!

Line Friends Park: Line Friends Park is located within Cathrine Park. It's pretty much an overpriced cafe with a ton of cute little Korean mascots (the Line Friends!) that are a ton of fun to take pictures with! They also have some Line Friends themed merchandise for sale (even though it's overpriced, I shelled out for a cute little fanny pack!

Boat Ride!

Don't quit your day job, bud. 

Confucian Temple/夫子庙：The Confucian Temple has everything: street food, cute shops, a museum, boat tours, street performers, rickshaws, and a temple, of course! There are also a ton of small parks and shopping centers nearby, so it's hard to be bored in this area!

Me and Iron Man

Aqua City Mall/水游城: After roaming around the Confucian Temple, I always ended up at the Aqua City Mall! Because of the decor and the water shows, I would say that Aqua City is probably my favorite mall in Nanjing! Besides that, it's pretty much like any normal mall, with cute stores and great restaurants (there's a Beijing Style hot pot place on the 4th floor that's amazing!). Another reason I hang out in this area so much is because there's a nice big grocery store (across the street I think?) full of specialty food items.

Xuan Wu Lake/玄武湖：Xuan Wu lake is a great place to take a walk with friends (or even ride a paddle boat) when the smog isn't so bad. There's a lot to see here! There are a few gardens, and a lot of beautiful statues. Also, the views from the lake are incredible; the skyline is
quite impressive, and you can even see the tallest building in Nanjing from here, the Purple Peak (紫峰).  There are also a few children's playgrounds, and a few small places to get snacks and milk tea (mostly around the entrance of the park).

     Even though it's hard to enjoy these aspects of the lake at night, Xuan Wu lake is still quite the hub after dark! Many older people congregate here at night to  exercise, fly kites, or sing karaoke!

The view of the Purple Peak
from Xuan Wu lake

                                             
The Purple Peak/紫峰：As mentioned before, the Purple Peak is the tallest building in Nanjing, and is actually also one of the tallest buildings in the world! There are two portions to this building, the first being a small mall (it's only 4 floors!). There are a few restaurants and a few small shops, but the real attraction is in the second portion of the building; a very fancy hotel. Sometimes, my friends and I would slip into the elevator to the hotel restaurant to check out the views of Nanjing.

Xinjiekou/新街口：Xinjiekou is a district with a lot of malls, places to eat and things to see! Outside of Deji, probably the biggest mall in Xinjiekou, there's always something going on! For example, in the winter, there was a giant interactive pyramid outside the mall (pictured below). A few months later, during the World Cup, a big projector and small soccer field took the pyramid's place to host watch parties and other events.
     My favorite mall in Xinjiekou, Fashion Lady, is full of cute (and strange) sculptures, in addition to a lot of cheap clothing! Fashion Lady (and Xinjiekou in general) is a great

Melissa and some spider men
hanging outside of Fashion Lady

The pyramid!

place to hang out when it's cold outside; all the main attractions are located in malls, and it gets so cold in Nanjing in the winter (one of my teachers described winters in Nanjing as "bone chilling")!

As always, feel free to add any comments or questions, and thank you for reading!

Internship/18 Days Left in this Term!

I have finally confirmed where I will be at in the next month and a half! At the beginning of March, I will be starting my internship at DeTao in Shanghai. DeTao is a large company that deals encompasses many different departments, and during my time there, I will be spending all of my time in their eco-finance department! While working within DeTao’s eco-finance department, I will be doing a lot of research, and sitting in on meetings. I am very excited to start!
In the meantime, I have been preparing for all of my finals (I have taken four already, and have another four or so to go before this term ends). There are only 18 (or less) days in this term, and if I can get my visa in time, I am planning on going to Taiwan for two weeks! Wish me luck!
Thanks for reading! Feel free to comment or ask any questions!

Saying goodbye to one of my teachers!

Overview of my Time Abroad Thus Far

      Hi All! I wrote this article for my Gilman Scholarship experiences abroad. Feel free to leave comments and questions below.

       Before I came to China to participate in a rigorous language program called Chinese Flagship Capstone, I was determined to improve my Chinese to the best of my ability; this meant working very hard in all of my classes, in addition to exploring my surroundings and getting in tune with the local culture. Before arriving in China, I was confident that since my Mandarin abilities were already at an advanced level that I would be practically fluent by the end of my year abroad, since the program I am currently participating in only accepts those who are already somewhat proficient in Chinese. However, as I am reaching the midway point of this program, although I am extremely satisfied with how my Chinese ability has progressed thus far, I am beginning to realize, if I plan on being completely fluent in Mandarin, I still have a long way to go.

      If I had one word to describe my study abroad experience thus far, it would be enlightening. This is due to the fact that I have recently had a change of heart concerning my language goals; although I can communicate most of my ideas in my second language, and understand what is being said in conversation and in classes, I cannot yet express my ideas the way a native Chinese speaker can. Simply put, I still use my native language, English, to translate my ideas, and I do not have the strongest grasp on Chinese language and culture in order to optimally communicate in my second language.

       I quickly came to this realization after being immersed with many other American students learning Chinese. No longer was I one of the best students in my language classes; not even close. However, instead of deterring me from further studying Mandarin, I have decided to keep on pushing, and have become inspired by my classmate’s knowledge and perseverance in their language studies. From this experience, I have learned that, no matter how well I might think I understand a subject, there is always room to improve.

       Thus, my current goals have greatly changed. Even though, at the moment, I am in an intensive program in order to improve my Mandarin, I have begun to consider ways to keep up my language abilities during the internship portion of my time abroad, and after I return back home to the United States. The latter goal, keeping up my Mandarin abilities after I return to the United States, will undoubtedly be a huge task. This is especially apparent because I will no longer have access to the language resources that provided by my college after I graduate, and I won’t be constantly immersed in my second language. Therefore, I am very motivated to find a job that utilizes my second language ability soon after I arrive back in the United States so I can easily keep up my language skills, and hopefully, continue to improve.

       In conclusion, although this experience abroad in Nanjing, China has been one of the hardest experiences I have had to go through in my life, during my time here, I have undoubtedly learned quite a few life lessons, and have a more humble perception of my language ability. For this experience, I will be forever grateful.

Spending the Holidays in China

A terrible photo of me

A not so nice photo of Melissa

     Unfortunately, Flagship has provided no time off for any western holidays. However, I do get New Years Day off! So far, I have no specific plans to celebrate New Years.

     As for Christmas, many of my classmates came together and organized an big holiday get together, complete with decorations, food and presents. Although the event was fairly small, with only those involved in Flagship and their roommates in attendance, it was still a lot of fun. Melissa and I spent most of our time there at the photo booth, and even then we failed to take any nice photos.

    

Christmas Toast

Hot Pot!

     Also, this last weekend, a good friend from Shanghai came out
 to Nanjing, and we got together on Christmas Eve and had a big meal of hot pot in celebration and had a great time! 
     Much to my surprise, on Christmas Eve in China, it seems to be customary to give away apples (I mention this because I received a ton of apples on this day, from restaurants, my teachers, and my roommate. Needless to say I was good on fiber for the rest of the week). In part, this might have to do with the fact that the word for “peace” and “apple” 

平安夜苹果
Peace Night Apples

in Chinese are somewhat similar. However, it is strange that this custom is common practice in China in the first place given that it is appears to be closely related to Christmas, which is not a widely celebrated holiday in China. I have probed a few of my Chinese friends about it, but they have all claimed that this practice was originally Western. However, although I was born and raised in the West, I have never experienced nor heard of such a custom. Thanks for reading! Feel free to ask questions/leave comments. 

Community Service

     Since arriving in Nanjing at the end of August, I have completed 10 hours of community service required by my program. However, I have not completed all of my community service hours at the same place; for the first two hours, I helped out at a Chinese nursing home, for the second two hours I picked up trash on a mountain, and for the last six hours I tutored at an elementary school. 

Melissa Hanging Out

     My least favorite community service experience by far was working at the nursing home. This is because, before going to the nursing home, my friends and I prepared to play various games, such as majiang, with the residents of the nursing home we were about to meet, and have pleasant conversations. However, after arriving, we found out that it was a nursing home for those who needed intensive care, thus most of the residents wanted to do their own thing and needed a lot more individual attention. Although providing these people with companionship was rewarding in its own way, it was very difficult to communicate and care for these people with no prior training.   

(Some of) the trash we picked up!

     Trash picking on one of the various mountain of Nanjing was fun, but we had to climb up a lengthy amount of stairs for about an hour to reach the garbage pile we were looking for.In addition, the trash we had to pick up was very gross (surprise). However, it was a great bonding experience, and I regret not doing it again while the weather was still somewhat warm and sunny (which made the trash stinkier, but what are you gonna do). 

If you look closely, I'm pointing at the word
 "look" while the children were all looking 
(I found this humorous)

Melissa teaching

For the last six hours of my community service, I went to a nearby school to teach English for kids who wanted extra tutoring on Saturdays. In total, I went to this school twice, once for two hours, another for four. The first time I went, I went to various lengths in an effort to teach my student English, from taking him on a walk, pointing out different colors and various items, to writing jargon on a blackboard in an effort to get him to remember anything. However, during the last fifteen minutes of a two hour class, my student whipped out his textbook and started reading about sustainability in English relatively fluently. I was in shock, and was embarrassed that I had spent so much effort trying to create my own curriculum.
The second time I went to tutor at the school, I was not paired up with a single student since there were not enough students for the volunteers. Instead, I sat in on a class of fifth graders learning English, and helped out with their pronunciation and homework. Afterward, we had a wonderful lunch of homemade Chinese food, and then headed home.

Thank you all for reading! Feel free to ask questions and write comments!

Clara playing soccer with the kids!

Eating Habits

Not much has been happening in Nanjing these days. For the most part, I have been gearing up for finals to start (they begin January 1st), and trying to finish up my thesis. My thesis topic has to do with popularity of food delivery services in China, their societal and environmental impact, and how to (potentially) change the system in a more sustainable way. 
In the mean time, I have been trying to make a huge effort to cut down on spending; this means that I have been cutting out a lot of expensive western food out of my diet (such as salads and sandwiches) since I haven’t been missing home so much lately, and have gathered the courage to eat at more hole-in-the wall restaurants, and to try more street food. My favorite meal of the day in China has to be breakfast; not only is the food cheap, but it's super tasty! Here's a list of some of my favorites:

Baozi!

Baozi: Baozi are large steamed buns stuffed with meat, veggies, or bean paste. My favorite flavors must be either the turnip or greens and mushrooms.

Soymilk: Soymilk in China tastes much better than it is in the States, most likely because, in the States, soy milk comes from a box. In China, oftentimes vendors will make it right in front of you, hot and ready. This means the milk is super fresh and foamy, and that you can ask the vendor to make it to your liking. I don't like that much sugar in my soy milk, and one vendor I go to will even add coffee!

Porridge!

I thought it was funny that this store
translated "rice porridge" to "gruel"

Rice Porridge: Rice Porridge is a great homey dish. This dish can either be sweet or savory (I always ordered the savory rice porridge, and you can ask to put just about anything in it. However, there are some classic ingredients that go in rice porridge, the most popular being perhaps the pork and thousand year old egg combination (don't knock it until you try it). 

Fried Stuffed Bread

Fried Stuffed Bread: This food item is exactly what it sounds like: stuffed bread (or pancake). Inside of the outer, almost thin crispy skin is usually a savory mixture of well seasoned meat and/or veggies.

Jian Bing!

The jian bing at this place tended to have more
cumin in it (unlike the most popular kinds of
jian bing), and the wrapper was paper thin. 

    











Jian Bing: Although this dish seems to be getting more and more popular in the West, still, many are unfamiliar with the jian bing outside of China. Many liken the jian bing to a Chinese version of the crepe, but I like to think of it more as a burrito. Basically, the wrapper is made on a giant flat surface, and the vendor puts whatever you want on it, such as eggs, hot dogs, lettuce, vegetables (even seaweed and kimchi), fried crunchy chips, and various sauces, and is wrapped up like a burrito. However, there are many different kinds of jian bing; on my block, there were (at least) three different jian bing vendors, and each had their own distinct wrappings and overall taste. So,if you have the opportunity, I would encourage you to not only try a jian bing, but try a few different kinds from a few different places, and see which one you like best!

Also, it's important to note also that what I eat in Nanjing is not necessarily what people eat all over China too; while I was in Yunnan a couple months ago, I ate rice noodles for breakfast every day (and it was soooo good), so don't get mad if I didn't post your favorites! That's the end of my post today, please feel free to comment which dish looked best to you, and what kinds of Chinese breakfast items you like to eat if I didn't list your favorite! Thank you for reading!

     

Old Friends and Cooking Crabs

This week, I was able to visit with quite a few old friends that I haven’t seen in over a year. They were all students from the Flagship program spring cohort; they were back in Nanjing to take their final tests after completing the internship portion of the program. While they were in Nanjing, I went out to karaoke with them, and they introduced me to some of their favorite spots to eat out. My favorite was Gugu Chicken, a place that specializes in Korean fried chicken not far from school.

Besides getting together and doing some fun activities, they also provided me with much needed advice and encouragement. For example, although the schooling portion of the program is quite intense, the internship portion is quite lax. All of the friends I talked to said that, during their internships, they were able to take mid afternoon naps every day. Thus, I am very excited to start my internship; I really need a break!

Meeting with these friends definitely changed my perception of this program. I am starting to realize that a year really isn’t that long, and that I can definitely make it through this program. 

 Crab!

Eating Crab

Another activity that I did this week that was worth mentioning was I cooked some live crabs with my friend Melissa and her roommate! Melissa’s aunt sent her 10 live crabs through the mail, and we had to cook them all within two days before they died. Thus, we feasted on crabs! 我真的是世界上第一个吃螃蟹的人！
Thanks for reading! Feel free to ask any questions or add any comments!

Thanksgiving

     Needless to say, celebrating Thanksgiving in China has been a little rough; going to class while one’s family back home is celebrating  their togetherness can feel quite lonely. Ironically, the one things that comes to mind to fully describe the way I feel at the moment is this Chinese poem:

九月九日忆山东兄弟 

唐 ·王维

独在异乡为异客，每逢佳节倍思亲。

遥知兄弟登高处，遍插茱萸少一人。

     This poem’s title is “Recalling the Brothers of Shandong on the 9th Day of the 9th Month” by WangWei, and was written during the Tang Dynasty. The 9th day of the 9th month is especially important in Chinese culture because it is a holiday to celebrate amongst family, much like Thanksgiving. The content of the poem describes a foreigner in a town that is strange to him, and every holiday, he misses his loved ones. He knows his brothers are climbing to a high place to plant a tree, with one person missing (him).
     Although I was unable to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family this year, I was able to celebrate with one of my good friends. Together, we decided to get a fancy dinner at a Beijing roast duck restaurant, and ate roast duck in replacement of turkey, since turkey is very hard to find in China. Although the duck was very tasty, it did not satisfy my cravings for Thanksgiving dinner.

     Thank you for reading! Please feel free to post any comments or ask any questions.