I'm a Doctor

I'm a Doctor . . . just not one who helps people, at least in the traditional sense :-) I like to think that I help people to better understand the society in which they live. My dissertation defense was a very emotional time for me- I was the most nervous I have ever been in my entire life. I have worked for two years straight just on this one massive document and so I had a lot vested in it. I guess I did a decent job of answering the questions from my committee because I PASSED. Woo hoo! I'm SO happy and relieved that I NEVER have to ever be in that position again. I have been very busy since then since I have been making some of the additions that they requested. I still have work to do on them over the next two weeks but I'm graduating in MAY. Hooray! We even have our plane tickets and everything. I don't think that I will be fully able to celebrate until that moment because it will really hit me that I'm done. But, its still kind of fun to say that I'm Dr. Cheryl right now.

Bell Tower

This is my FINAL post about China!!! Sorry that there were so many- it was a great, jam-packed trip that I wanted to document every detail. On my final morning, I went to the Bell Tower.

I climbed up to the top where I saw where the bell tower gets its name

I also saw great views of the Drum Tower just across from the Bell Tower (its closed for repairs) as well as what the hutongs look like from above

I had such a great time and I was SO LUCKY that the timing worked out so perfectly that I was done with my dissertation work (my adviser was reviewing it) so that I could accompany William on this business trip. I'm sad that I couldn't see the city without him but at least now, we have both been there. Hopefully we will be able to see some other regions of China, like Shanghai and the Terracotta Warriors, someday.

Unique Architecture Around Beijing

Beijing has such a unique blend of architecture with the old styles and modern. These were some of the gardens outside the walls of the forbidden city.

I have no idea what building this is- it just looked fairly imposing and impressive.

These buildings were over a mall

I wanted to get upclose to the CCTV building, but this was the closest I got. The building was completely walled off- I don't know if it is because the building wasn't completely finished or because about a week before my trip, a hotel next to the building burned down.

I have no idea about the physics of this building, but it is quite impressive.

Silk Market

Shopping at the Silk Market was the worst experience of my whole life. I had been told by multiple individuals, including my sister, that I had to go there to get the fake knockoffs. My sister had warned me about the tactics of sellers- she said that women would come up to her and call her "You mean lady- how am I supposed to feed my children." I've been to Mexico, Morocco, and other tourist attractions around the world and I thought that I was ready for this. At all of the tourist attractions that I attended in China had the usual vendors and I handled them quite well. Once I specifically said "No" and shook my head, looking away, they left me alone. This was NOT the case at the silk market. As I would walk down the aisle of vendors, vendors would hollar at me as I passed, saying things like "Hey pretty lady, come check out my stuff" and the calling would come from both sides of the stalls and would sometimes last long after I had passed their stand. Vendors would come out and get into my face about the wares. I was curious to see just how good these "deals" were and so I stopped at one toy stand and asked about a stuffed panda. The girl told me it was 28o yuan- I knew that this was a MAJOR rip-off since the nearly identical one I saw at the zoo gift shop was only 80 yuan. I said I wasn't interested and she said that she could give me her employee discount and she tapped out some numbers on a calculator and showed me a price of 170 yuan. I told her I wasn't interested- because I REALLY wasn't- and she asked me how much I would be willing to spend on it. I told her that I wasn't interested and she then blocked me into her stall. I literally had to push to one of her sides to get out and she then started to chase me- but she finally stopped. This was just WAY too much for me. Some people really enjoy haggling prices- I am not one of those. I never have been- I can handle a little, but this was completely over-the-top. I didn't need any "fake, cheap crap" badly enough to warrant spending any more time there. Definitely not my thing- but, it was the place where I saw the greatest concentration of non-Asians. And they had like 4 floors of goods, ranging from perfume to shoes to suitcases to clothing to toys. So, if you like bargaining for deals and "designer" labels, this is definitely the place for you.

Wafujing Street and Chinese Food

I was glad for the recommendation from Jacky Lee to visit Wafujing Street at night. It is a pedestrian shopping area and when lit up at night, it reminds me of Times Square

This logo reminded me of somewhat of the Nike swoosh, but with more of a check mark effect

They had a Foreign Language Bookstore where I was able to buy books in English- it was a different feeling to be the foreign language. I actually only bought 1 book about Beijing. For those of you who know me, I generally like to buy a book at most tourist attractions that I go to. However, I didn't find any that I liked at the sites, but I did manage to find one at this bookstore that encompassed most of the sites, at least briefly.

There was also a very extensive underground shopping center underneath the above ground pedestrian mall. It looked like your typical mall but with a Chinese aspects like this giant bull.

The most fascinating part of Wafujing area is the open food stalls. They literally sell everything on a stick- ranging from candied apples to chicken to STARFISH and SCORPIONS.

You can't see this one very well but they also had seahorses on a stick. I'm a "selective eater" (a better phrase than picky) here in the U.S. and I am one of those American tourists who won't even try this, but there was just no way. I'm glad that they enjoy them.

William and I had been to several Chinese restaurants here in Mountain View and we really did not like them at all. They were popular restaurants but I just didn't think it was very good. But I then went to Beijing, to two fine dining establishments (first class, grade A) and I realized that they tasted exactly the same as the places in Mountain View. Turns out that I just don't like authentic Chinese food- I only like the Americanized version of it. After finding this out, I didn't seek out any more restaurants to eat at. The other problem was that many of the menus were not in English so I had no idea what I would have been eating. I was just glad that I had brought snacks from the U.S. I also stopped off at the Super WalMart where I bought some chips and other Americanized treats. I wasn't a very good as appreciating the local cuisine. I am so glad that one thing is found around the world- Diet Coke. It has saved me countless times from drinking the water and just a familiar taste of home. It is also fairly easy to recognize, even with Chinese characters.

A Unique Snow Shovel

The Chinese used a very different "shovel" than I was used to- it actually was a bamboo broom. As you can see, it was fairly efficient at dealing with fresh powder, but I'm not sure how effective it would be with wet, heavy snowfall. But I was impressed by their resourcefulness. This illustrates that bamboo truly is the all purpose tool in China.

Chinese National Theater

I was also able to tour another impressive landmark I had seen during the Beijing Olympics- the Chinese National Theater.

The theater is surrounded by water and you enter the building underground and actually walk underneath the water into the main theater area.

This is the glass ceiling hallway that I walked under

It houses 3 separate theaters, cafes, a bookstore, as well as several exhibits about the building and the Chinese opera. This is one of the elaborate costumes in the exhibit.

The architecture inside is just as amazing as the outside.

Wood panels on the roof

I came at the perfect time because I was able to watch both the Beijing orchestra (pictured below) and the ballet rehearsing

I wasn't able to see the theater all lit up like this, so I took a photo of the photo in the exhibition.