This weekend we were able to go to the Nanjing Tulou's in Fujian province. These were amazingly historical buildings and are incredibly practical as well as beautiful. When we visited, a lady who lives in the Tulou made us an amazing lunch of local food which was positively amazing. Filled with things like bamboo roots, pickled veggies, duck soup and Chinese broccoli. This region has tons of tea plantations and many of these families make their own tea blends. Our host gave us some to drink, and naturally, it was fantastic. So of course our group ending up buying about a metric boatload of tea from this family. In a little bit of our free time there, a buddy and I went and prayed at one of the Tulou's Buddhist shrines. We prayed, signed our names and home country in a log book, made a donation and a shrine and the shrine attendant tied prayer ribbons on our wrists. On the ride back down the mountain it started raining cats and dogs so there were these little golf cart-busses to take us down the mountain. But they didn't have any doors or windows so we got soaked.

 Terrace farmland growing tea plants

 Tulou's from above

 Weird looking duck that may or may not have been our lunch

 Bamboo roots

 The family tea making room. AKA My tea before it was done

 Inside a Tulou

 美国！！！！！！！！！ （AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!!)

 Buddhist prayer ribbons

Surrounding area's rice paddies

 Old man caught in the rain who decided to have an impromptu fishing trip

Sorry for the delay in this most recent post. This last week or so has been wild. Classes all day everyday. We are hauling through these lessons like it's no one's business. But this last weekend we went to the dragon boat races that were practically right outside our dorm rooms. It was a huge party and there were tons of people taking pictures, both of the races, and of us (does that counts as taking pictures of the races). After the races we went to Xiamen island and to the beach there which was a complete blast. Now its just back to the classroom grind.

 Are you suggesting coconuts are migratory?

 Beach fun

 Kung Fu movie moment

 Basic b*tch beach photo

 Dragon boat races

Apparently dragon boat races can get pretty intense, if you can't see, the guys in black are riot police

Today was such an amazing day here. The day started off with a presentation for some Chinese middle schoolers and their parents. Most of the discussion was about how the education system differs in China from America. Then we split into groups and our group taught our kids how to do the Cupid Shuffle and we performed for the rest of the groups. After this presentation, we were able to have lunch with a local government official. After this we went to an after school program for children of rural workers. This was such an amazing experience. We brought a bunch of books from the U.S to give to these children for the charity's library. They were so thankful and were absolutely amazing. We hung out with the kids a bit also and did some arts and crafts with them. Then, we went to a Confucian temple with the children where it was POURING rain. But today was so amazing and exhausting, but has been one of the best days spent in Xiamen so far.

 Some kids i taught how to Cupid Shuffle

 All the rest of these are of the Confucian Temple

 Prayer card I wrote for Confucius

Arrived safe and sound in Xiamen on Sunday night. Monday was a free day and then on Tuesday, classes finally started. Our professors are using very little English when they are teaching us and I'm understanding a surprising amount of what they say. And when in doubt, just smile and nod. This is an intensive program and we attend 6 hours of class a day. On my busiest day at UW i would have 4 and that was only one day a week. Not a ton of new exciting photos but ill do what I can to keep things colorful. Probably a lot of food pictures and funny translations.

 (Bittern flapjack?)

 5D Movies, Hollywood needs to step it's game up

 New friends on the Great Wall and a funny translation (Be the vest thing to you)

 Spotted in Beijing

 Sounds like a party

 Sounds like slightly less of a party

 An odd thing to find in the Confucian temple gift shop 

One FANCY ASS toll booth row

Sorry i haven't been able to update this over the last two days. Things have been positively amazing and crazy busy. Friday was our free day and my group went to a Tibetan Buddhist Lamasery in Beijing and then to a Confucian Temple right across the street. The Lamasery had some of the most beautiful art and statues I have ever seen in my life including a gold Buddha that was 60 feet tall! 60 freaking feet. I don't have many pictures of these statues because photographs are forbidden inside the halls where they are held. Yesterday, our whole class went to the Great Wall and on a Hutong rickshaw tour. We went to the Badaling section of the Great Wall and i damn near blew out a lung on some of the ascents. But the Great Wall was a beautiful and amazing experience.  We also stopped in the Olympic Village for about 20 minutes. Along the way, our entire class has been making tons of friends in China, from a construction worker on the highway to shop owners and craftspeople. Everyone here is so nice and willing to help us. Today we are leaving for Xiamen to begin our studies at Huaqiao University. Here are some pictures of recent adventures as well as some funny English translation I have found.

 Confucian Temple

Buddhist Lamasery

 National Stadium (Bird's Nest)

 Water Cube

 Hutong Tour by rickshaw

 Odd business model

 Confucian Temple

 Buddhist Lamasery

 Great Wall 

 Great Wall 

 Me with the Emperors Crown

I honestly don't even know

Again, no idea, but sounds pretty good to me

Day 1,
 Arrived at PEK at 5 am. After claiming our bags, we went out for a monstrous breakfast. After breakfast, visited Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. So much history is contained in just those two sites alone. But the day wasn't done, after another huge meal, we visited the Temple of Heaven. After dinner a few friends and I visited a famous night market and I was able to finally try eating scorpions (don't taste like much of anything). Tomorrow is our "free day" where we will go see sites we wish to see on our own in Beijing.

 (Tiananmen Square)

 (Tiananmen Square)

(Forbidden City)

 (Forbidden City)

 (Temple of Heaven)

 (Also got to try pigs feet, which was incredibly delicious

(Two of the three scorpions I ate)