このところ"帰国"の準備や旅行で忙しくて、ブログを書かなくてごめんなさい！>.<
中国での留学生生活はもう終わりました。日本での生活を思い出しすと、たまに日本を去ることを後悔するが、北京にいる５ヵ月半はとてもよい経験でした。北京で知り合った友達が次々と帰国して、とても寂しい一週間でした。次会えるのはいつになるのかな？まあ、でもきっといつか会えるでしょう。インターネット上でも！＾＾
土曜日、香港に来ちゃいました。今日、いとこ達と過ごして、なんか恋しかったほんわかした気持ちでした。＾＾
Located north of BJ, Changchun and Harbin are relatively new cities and thus looks more modern than BJ.
We spent 2 days in Changchun. As soon as we arrived, we were taken to the hotel for a buffet breakfast, and then to a very small ski field where I had a go at skiing. It was fun! Some people didn't ski and tried the dog sleigh. Apparently, it's all just for show - a person pushes the sleigh from behind!
After lunch, we visited the Puppet Emperor's Palace Museum which was home to Puyi, the last Emperor of the Qing Dynasty who later became a puppet emperor of Manchukuo during the Anti-Japanese War. There was a bomb shelter which was also open to visitors - it was huge! For dinner that night, we had jiaozi (gyoza). The tour guide ordered 2 plates of jiaozi per person. There was no way we could finish it all, even with more guys than girls on our table. Looking across to the other table, they had stacked up all their empty plates of jiaozi and were taking photos - they'd finished every single one. Amazing!
On the second day, we visited the Changchun Film City and some old building that used to be a hospital but now a medical science research centre. It was a total waste of time. We still had about 2 hours to kill even after a hearty lunch at a nice hotel where we sat for at least 2 hours, so we were taken to Wenhua Park. There, we walked around taking photos and watched the many people flying kites. In the late afternoon, we head off to the train station and left for Harbin.
We had a late dinner on arrival at Harbin after which we went straight to our rooms for a shower and went to bed. The final day was long and tiring, but much more enjoyable than Changchun. The tour guide was much better than the one at Changchun, which made all the difference.
We first went to the tiger park which was more like a prison, and it smelled really bad. The tigers were cute though, especially the white tiger - big and fluffy.^^
Next stop was "Sun Island" where we walked around admiring the snow sculptures. It was amazing. I liked it more than the ice sculptures we saw later in the day which were pretty impressive. I was one of 4 people who had a go on the huge slide. It was so much fun!
We also visited the majestic St. Sofia Orthodox Church and the Russian-built Zhongyang Dajie shopping street.
Dinner was jiaozi again, at the head shop of the same jiaozi chain we went to in Changchun. The tour guide told us that in north-east China, it is a custom to eat jiaozi when you're seeing guests off, and noodles when welcoming guests.
All in all, it was a fun trip. Although the company was made up of several nationalities, everyone got along well and exchanged contact details on the train trip back to BJ. I hope we will get the chance to meet again. :)
More photos here!^^
普通昼ねできない私は、放課後、4時間も寝てしまいました！
それでも、まだ眠いです。(-.-)'
このところ、あまりよく寝れてないからかな。
昨夜、ドイツから北京へ遊びに来たAKのお姉さんの誕生会に参加しました。中国式の鍋料理屋さんで食べてからカラオケへ行きました。
I feel slightly guilty about partying when I should be studying, but it was a fun night out. And steamboat was yum.^^
Plus I got a lot done this week...got all my entry-exit permits, bought my plane ticket to HK.... It turns out that I can't change my original flight schedule. One airline says it's coz there's a problem with the fare calculation when the ticket was issued. Another airline says it's not possible coz of the ticket type - max. 2 stops per city (ie. no backtracking). Now why didn't they tell me this when I called them? Grrr...
On Tuesday, I spent several hours running around the immigration office, thanks to the total lack of organisation, the incomplete explanations and therefore confusing procedure (the fact that the place was packed with confused and frustrated people who also didn't know what to do didn't help), and then taxied from airline to airline...Anyway, cutting a long story short, I will fly to HK and then back to BJ for the Japan flight.
Well, I must hit the books & cram, cram, cram...as of tomorrow.^^"
Last day of classes today. Also K's last day in BJ. She only started packing yesterday and didn't go to the post office until 4 hours before her flight. She had 2 large suitcases full of stuff & I helped her pack a couple of boxes to send as well. I was so nervous for her! To make matters worse, the driver got lost on the way to the airport and we went around in circles in peak hour traffic. It took almost 2 hours, but we got there eventually – 15 mins before the check-in counters closed and 45 mins before the flight. We even took a few quick photos, but she made the flight.^^ Phew! Even though I don't have half as much stuff as K, I think I should start packing this week.
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今日は授業の最後の日でした。そして、Kが北京にいる最後の日でした。彼女の荷造りを手伝って、空港まで見送りました。寂しい～～！知り合った日からほぼ毎日昼と夕飯を一緒に食べました。明日から誰と食事をしたらいいのかな？
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It was an awesome New Year’s Eve. Went for dinner at a nice restaurant near the west gate...
...then we went to “tango,” a KTV disco bar where Ivan had booked a room. There were karaoke rooms, a dance floor, couches and the bar, of course. The karaoke rooms even had room service - staff came in to clean up what mess we had made every so often. Not bad.
Anyway, we were the first to arrive. The others (who didn't join us for dinner) started arriving after 10pm. At a quarter to midnight, we went down to the dance floor to ensure a good spot for the countdown. We ended up staying till almost 5 in the morning by when we were all starving, so we stopped by the convenience store to pick up some food before returning to the dorm.
I tried to stay up and wait for the hot water so that I could have a shower before going to bed, but I fell kinda asleep and didn't wake up til after noon. I stayed in all day watching a Taiwanese TV drama: 王子变青蛙...a very unrealistic but very cute romantic comedy.^^
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大みそかに友達と友達の友達と校内のレストランで夕飯を食べて、それから「糖果」に行きました。そのようなカラオケ・ナイトクラブがあると知らなかったですが、歌を歌いたい人は歌を歌えて、踊りたい人は踊ることができて、新年カウントダウンにはちょうどいい場所でした。２０人も参加して、みんな夜明けまで盛り上がりました。
お湯があるまで待って、シャワーを浴びてから寝ようとしたけど、寝てしまって、起きたら昼すぎでした。
今日はどこも行かなくて、ずっと部屋でテレビドラマを見ていました。＾＾
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