When did we get a blog?

Let me start out by apologizing for taking almost the entire summer to post something. I didn't have much going on and got lazy when something did happen. I had a pretty good thing going when Yost was posting for the two of us. So, with that said, I'll fleece it out.

Going all the way back to the beginning of June, Yost and I had been working on a competition sponsored by the Air Force to design a man-portable antenna capable of tracking a satellite while in the field. Yost left before the final product was complete so he never saw this:

The bottom part is the frame to a backpack and the top part is a rotating and pivoting platform that holds the antenna itself. Here's a closer look:

We ended up losing the competition against OSU but the trip down to Ohio wasn't a total bust. On the way back I bought a boatload of fireworks.*

After that, it was the dog days of summer. Frequent activities included swimming, playing soccer, and watching the World Cup. My uncle owns a cottage in the U.P. (Upper Peninsula) near a town called Hessel. Because I don't have cool pictures, I'm including a map.

The extended family went up there for the 4th of July weekend. Other than fireworks ;), not much happened. Came home, lazed about.

This past weekend, my father, brother, and I went back up to do a little salmon fishing. Did we have any luck? Well...
BA-BOOM

I caught a couple of fish, my dad hooked two but never brought them in, and my brother didn't catch anything. He did win $110 at the casino so no one was feeling bad for him.

That pretty much brings us to now. Look for more postings soon.
-Mike

*Fireworks, the good ones at least, are illegal to buy or use in Michigan so that is why the trip to Ohio was nice. Evidently, though, fireworks are also illegal to use in Ohio. I had to sign a paper saying I was taking them out of the state.

回国了

Well, I am finally back in the good ole’ United States of America. I safely arrived with my parents this afternoon at O’Hare International Airport. The flight was more than comfortable and went by pretty quick. First let us recap on what happened the past week while in Shanghai visiting our good family friends Lillian and Li Shen.

We arrived in Shanghai on a beautiful sunny afternoon. The first shock was to see some blue skies (or the sky…period), as the smog in Beijing was so thick, we never saw the sun during my parents’ entire stay. Then we were greeted by a familiar face, my Auntie Lillian. They took us back to their home, which was amazing! It was so different for me to live in a huge place with air-conditioning, American style bathrooms, and an actual bed. The first night we got a delicious Chinese meal (because we were in China…) then relaxed and just chatted the rest of the night.
On our first full day, Thursday, I started out my morning by being introduced to what ‘REAL’ peaches taste like. I must say, “WOW!!!” as that peach truly tasted AMAZING! It so juicy, so tasty, and just so good in everyway you could imagine. Unfortunately, I will most likely never have a peach that good again, unless I come back to China. Then we went to a fancy mall (very fancy). It had all the major designers and what-not. The restaurant for lunch was inside the mall, a famous place that started out in Taiwan. We were presented with a plethora of food (including Shao Long Bao!..yum), which was easily taken care of by some eager eaters. Proceeding our delicious lunch was a glimpse into what Shanghai real estate is like. Actually turned out to be very cool, as the architectures of the houses were surprisingly modern and/or abstract. After looking around for a while we went down to the Bund (area in Shanghai previously inhabited by the Germans). The European influence was immediately clear, due to the architecture and overall styling of the strip. After some great pictures we were taken into one of the tallest hotels in Shanghai for dinner. We ate on the 54th floor with an overlooking view of the Bund Strip. The best part, we got to see the city change from day to night, and see all the lights come on. In other words, crazy awesome!
Friday we headed out to another fancy mall. Inside was delicious restaurant called ‘Jade Garden’. We had some more interesting dishes there such as: sweet rice stuffed lotus roots, Vietnamese beef wads (for lack of better words), and Tang Bao (OMG Kay, I actually think these are better than Shao Long Bao!!!). Then we toured around a nearby park so I could take some pictures. The majority of the day was spent checking out these nifty street markets. It was like a labyrinth of alleys that made up an enormous shopping area. We ended our afternoon with some refreshing cold dou jiang (bean milk, quite delicious).
On our last full day we drove out to SuZhou, beautiful area, to spend the day. First, lunch was at this REALLY good restaurant (again) where even more weird dishes were tried, some for the first time. These dishes include: duck tongue (pretty much just like duck), sticky rice stuffed date skins, squab/pigeon (AHHH KAY!!! FINALLY!!! Yeah…uhh…it’s still really good :D), flounder, and this amazing mango-based dessert soup (soo refreshing after a hot meal). Then we pretty much just toured the SuZhou area, taking in the great lake views and scenery in general. We wrapped up our stay in SuZhou with a dinner at a small restaurant where I had goose for the first time. Unfortunately, it had been sitting out for a while, so they told me it wasn’t as good as usual. Regardless, it was still tasty. Essentially, it tastes and looks like duck. Once back at Lillian and Li’s home we chatted the night away.
**This morning (over 24 hours ago…haha the nerd in me finds that cool) I ate one more delicious Chinese peach before Auntie Lillian and Uncle Li escorted us to the HongQiao Airport for our flight to Beijing. It was tough saying good-bye, especially because the week seemed like it just started. The hospitality they showed us after over 15 years of not seeing them was absolutely mind-blowing (if you guys read this, come to the States so we can return the favor!). Now we are all back in Illinois, where the toilets have seats, toilet paper is provided, soap is provided, and you can go outside without looking like you took a shower due to immediate sweating. I must admit, that many of the commodities are nice to have back (including internet and a phone!), but China will be missed.
Now that my official Mandarin studies are over and I am back where the normal language is English I would like to make a public call-out to a certain Jennifer Wu. It is now on YOU to make sure my Chinese speaking skills improve, or stay at their current level of badness at the very very least ;) …我爱你。
开始吧！

- Kevin


**Written Sunday night

Parents Arrived!

My Mom and Dad finally made it to the Motherland Friday afternoon! I went and picked them up from the airport and took them to the hotel we would be staying at. WOW...this hotel is super nice! I love Chinese hotels. After settling in, and grabbing my stuff from my old place, we checked out a street market, at some good cheap street food and called it a night.

The next day was our 'serious' shopping day. We hit all three major markets (YaXiu, Silk Street, and Pearl) in Beijing. It pretty much took us all day. By the end, our feet were tired, our hands were full, and after a tasty dinner (involving some Beijing Roast Duck :D) we relaxed in the comfort of our room.

This morning we had planned on going to the Great Wall. Unfortunately, I was incorrect on some bus times and we were not able to...therefore, we thought we would go and check out Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square was quite square. And the Forbidden City was actually forbidden, due to the ridiculous number of people there. Sooo, we decided we would come back another day. After two misses, we went and toured Tsinghua University campus, got some pictures, and ate at the cool vegetarian restaurant previously mentioned (where they serve fake meat). Then we did some more shopping (of course) at some yummy food and are now lounging around the hotel in order to give our feet some much needed rest.

Tomorrow we WILL actually be going to the Great Wall. I will be taking my parents to the MuTianYu segment (very beautiful). Tuesday is still up in the air (possibly Forbidden City?), but picking up my newly extended Visa is definitely on the list. Then Wednesday we fly to the magical land of Shanghai for a few days! I have no idea what Auntie Lilian has planned for us, but I have no doubt it's gonna be fun.

Until the next occurrence of internet!

- Kevin (and parents)

Bird's Nest, Tailor, and BeiHaiGongYuan (北海公园)

This week was comprised of doing things I either didn't have time to do or didn't think of yet.

I decided to finally go to the Olympic Area to see the Bird's Nest and swimming arena (forgot what it was called). It was incredible to see that on a Tuesday, it was still packed! And not just with foreigners, mostly local Chinese! It was cool to walk around and see the intricate architecture.


The next day, was a very busy one indeed. I first went to the Silk Street Market to check out prices on Chinese rugs (for the parents). Looked around for a while, bargaining with the shop keepers for some practice. Then I went to YaXiu, another market. I picked out the color, material, and style of suit I wanted to get custom tailored. I decided on a very dark blue 100% cashmere interview suit. (UPDATE: I went back to get it fitted today. Ohh I like it...) Then I perused around that market some more to get more Chinese/bargaining practice in. I quickly grabbed lunch at the upstairs dining center (and got Bubble Tea!!!). After I was drained from the markets, I headed over to the famous BeiHai Park.


On the way there, I had a nice conversation with the driver. I asked him what he thought of the park and what the best spots to hit were (since it is enormous). Once at the park, I was immediately overwhelmed by the vastness of the lake located in the center of the park. It was beautiful. I looked at the map, got even more overwhelmed with how much there was to see, then started on my way. First I had to hit the White Pagoda, located at the top of temple on a peninsula in the center of the park. The climb involved going through many temples and shrines where everyone would stop to pay tribute. I must admit, I too stopped at almost everyone and did the same. At the top, it was breathtaking. The view was amazing, the tranquility was sublime, and the breeze was refreshing (on a humid 107F day in Beijing).





On the descent I went through some 'caves' on the Jade Islet. Very interesting, containing lots of little statues representing different dynasties. At the bottom, I took a boat across the lake, to the north side. I met a fun guy from Nicaragua that is living in Sweden. He was touring 10 different Asian countries this summer! Finally, I checked out all the other cool shrines/areas before leaving heading back home.

The parents arrive tomorrow. I get to go pick them up from the airport and be their tour guide! I am soo excited. Hopefully, they notice an improvement in my Chinese...

The plans we have laid out for our time in Beijing are as follows:
- Hit the Great Wall (Mutianyu)
- Tiananmen Square and Forbidden City
- 1 day of intense shopping at all the markets (and me picking up my suit!)
- Either BeiHaiGongYuan or TianTan (Temple of Heaven)

Then on Wednesday, it's off to Shanghai!

It's gonna be an incredible week touring China with the parents for a week!

一会儿见！

－ Kevin
P. S. Don't know if any more posts will come until we're back in the States.

Random Photo Update

So the "Attach Picture" decided to start working again. So here are a few older pics. No particular order to subject.


Me enjoying some rest at the Shanghai Frisbee Tournament with my camo ascot


Graduation Pic in front of the Tsinghua Gate


Me with DengXu and HeLi at my birthday dinner


Cutting my cake!
href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUXS5ojkgX_LkkrsMUyhJEk0nEedW7GiHO1nWCM57MFBaxIoW7oqiOHKCMsSOat4VO4WUDAufu93BDNLRnpNBHCwB_O_k9LRfObL7_9EIHpBT6LNom_Ij1pqOIQ-MOw6Lo2j5ldmgzwi6-/s1600/IMG_0387.JPG">

Me with my new glasses on that apparently make me look even more Korean

Nowhere. Near. Berlin. "I Think We're Going to Berlin!"

Since it was Kevin’s last day, we let him decide our plan for the day. He decided that he wanted to go for a stroll down through the Red Light District. After all, what trip to Amsterdam is complete without hookers, weed, and crazies?

Well, we experienced a little bit of everything during out trip. There was certainly enough weed…everywhere. Coffee shop after coffee shop reeking of pot, neon signs everywhere, and a few prostitutes here and there. It was kind of like Vegas, only more European. In any event, a good experience and glad we went around.

We said goodbye to Kevin, and decided to rent ourselves some bicycles! Everyone says that the best way to tour Amsterdam is on bicycle (after all, bicycles rule, if you remember from the previous post). So, Yost and I got ourselves some original Dutch bicycles and made our way away from the city.



We rode all around. First, we headed toward the Amstel river (yes, the same Amstel that gives the beer its name). We had a beautiful ride down there along the river, and came across a windmill, a buffalo, and some pretty scenery. We turned around, and then started making random turns, following wherever our heart desired from various streets to side streets to parks.

After one of these impulse turns, I spotted a sign that said “Brewerij,” which I was pretty sure meant Brewery in Dutch. So, we just so happened to make our way over. As we would read later, this place is actually a favorite among the locals. It was actually called “Brewerij ‘t IJ,” and the spot was absolutely packed with people. The beer was phenomenal, and we played cards, sat on a bench, and had a drink. That was a really nice, spontaneous, and fun surprise (and a much needed break from all of the riding).



A bit more riding landed us at a place called Nemo, which looked like a giant ship. We only saw the slanted roof, but we decided it was worth checking out. We think that it was a museum, but this deck was opened to the public, and had chairs and games out for people to play. We took advantage, and had a quick catnap on the chairs before making out way back home.





Hungry, we looked for some suggestions as to where to eat. The menus were pretty difficult to decipher, so we found a general area that had tons of places, and figured we would find something. After looking at tons of menus, we found two places that were not Italian: one of which was talked about in a tourist map, and the other looked like traditional Dutch food. We went with the latter.

Again, we can’t seem to miss on restaurants (knock on wood). First, we met this really great couple from England (well, the wife was from Australia, but they now live in England), and we got to talk to them for a little while. It was actually their third time back at this place, so we knew we had made a good choice even before we ordered.

When we did order, we were not disappointed in the least. I got the pea soup on the recommendation from the gentleman next to me, and Yost went for the potato soup. Both were awesome. But then came the main course. We both ordered “Hochposh,” a traditional Dutch dish consisting of a shitload of mashed potatoes mixed with a vegetable (we got endive) and a shitload of meat. We probably had four whole potatoes each, as well as a bocce ball-sized meatball, and it was heavenly. Barely able to move, we called it a night and went to sleep.

The next morning was rainy and gross, so we returned our bikes, grabbed some delicious stroopwaffels (crazy-heavy wafer waffle type things with caramel in the middle. Hard to explain, but great) for our train ride to Berlin. Six hours later, we were finally at Yost’s “home.”

After dropping our stuff off at his apartment, I was immediately introduced to the two things he had been raving about: doner and Eschenbrau. Doner is kabob meat with veggies in a pita (which was delicious), and Eschenbrau is the home-brew place that is situated in a little garden covered by trees and filled with benches…and people. The beer was phenomenal, and the atmosphere was great: people were having picnics, just hanging around talking, and just enjoying the evening.

From there, we decided to hit up the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag because Yost had never seen them at night. They were absolutely beautiful, and a really cool welcome to Berlin for me. From there, we took the last train back and caught up on some sleep.





Day two in Berlin was a “do work” day, led by Tour Guide Brian. So, we did what we had to do! First things first, we headed back to the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag to see them both during daylight and to try and go up the dome of the Reichstag because it was closed when Yost went with his group. Unfortunately, it was still closed. I tried to complain to the administration, telling them, “After all you’ve done to my people, letting us up there is the LEAST you could do.” They weren’t having it, so we left to find bigger and better things.

Next stop: museum island. We saw a monument set up for the burning of books, the Berlinerdome, and some other famous spots. We made our way to the D.D.R. museum. No, not that D.D.R. This was an interactive, hands-on museum that displayed the lives of people living in East and West Germany during the divide. You have to love a museum where you are not only allowed, but also encouraged to touch and open things.

After all of those monuments, we had a nice walk around Alexanderplotz and Hackesher Markt, as well as a stroll through a park toward Yost’s University, so I could see where he went to school everyday. We also made moves toward the T.V. tower, but it was a little overcast so we decided to save going up for another day.

Ka De We was our next destination. Ka De We is the largest department store in Europe next to Harrods. This place was massive, and we spent some time just walking around the food section, looking at twenty cases of cakes, truffles, sandwiches, anti-pasta…basically anything and everything you could need or want food-wise was on display. It was pretty insane.

A quick stop at the apartment, and we were off again, this time to the Holocaust memorial. I love how each memorial is set up so differently and can mean whatever you want it to. It was set up as a ton of rectangular pillars of varying heights and sizes, and created almost a maze. Yost gave me a few minutes to get lost in there.



A long, long walk down Fredrichstraße brought us to Checkpoint Charlie, where the U.S. had set up their checkpoint between East and West Germany. Not too far by was the Berlin Wall, as well as an amazing museum called, “Topography of Terror,” which was in the building formerly used as the S.S. Headquarters. This museum was fantastic. It had pictures of so many aspects of the war, from the officers to the rounding up and public humiliation of Jews and Gypsies as well as pictures from inside the concentration camps as well. It was an amazing history of the rise and fall of the Nazi party, complete with photographs. Truly incredible.



We grabbed some groceries on our way home for lunch for the next few days, headed out to dinner at a great Thai place, and then came home to relax. More importantly, I finally got to do laundry. Let me rephrase: I finally got to do laundry in a machine, and not by hand. Best €1.70 of the trip! Just kidding…but really.

To top off an already incredible day, we met up with two of Yost’s friends (Karl and Ian) who had just gotten back from Italy that afternoon. We all went to Eschenbrau, had a beer, and talked about all of our travels, about Michigan, about, well everything. A perfect end to a perfect day.

That’s all for now!

-Josh

Graduation & Birthday Celebrations!

我二十一岁了！！！我跟朋友过得很愉快！但是我感觉相以前依样。。。

Yippee!!! I managed to pass me final exam here at BLCU. It was tough studying all those characters and the method to writing all this time. Then they go and give us Pinyin on the exam! I couldn’t believe it. I was happy because that made it soo much easier, but was also unhappy because I (as well as everyone else) had busted to learn the characters. In the end, I am just happy I am at least familiar with characters now and how I have performed. At the graduation dinner, one of my classmates (stand up guy, like the father of the class) brought in an 8 year-old aged bottle of scotch. That stuff was STRONG! He said it was a good way for me to transition into m 21st year of life. After dinner, we all went out and celebrated our last night together. We ended up going to our favorite bar (because the owner was AWESOME) nearby. After a relaxing night together, we all had an emotional goodbye with the owner (a young, cool Chinese guy). As he hugged every one of us, he broke down and started crying (as well as some of us). His final words to us were, “I don’t care if you remember PBD, I don’t care if you remember me. I just care that wherever you are, you just be happy.” Like I said, stand-up guy. I then had to say goodbye to all my friends and classmates. I hate saying goodbye…

But such is life, and what was to come in the next few days was just more goodbyes; the worst being DengXu and HeLi (the two AMAZING students that had been taking care of me my entire stay in China). They took me out for a birthday dinner Friday night. We went to a cool vegetarian restaurant (which happened to be the first place they said “I love you”). Now you may be wondering how vegetarian and cool can be used in sequence. The explanation is that nearly half their dishes contain fake meat made from bean protein. The coolest part is that it tastes, looks, and feels like real meat…CRAZY! After that delicious meal, they whipped out a Chinese cake for me, and we all sang “Happy Birthday” in Chinese and English. It was tough saying good=bye to those two. They are probably two of the nicest, most caring, smartest people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting. What’s more, is that they make the PERFECT couple (and agreed to invite me to their wedding – yippee! Another excuse to come back to China)!



The next day (my actual birthday) the real festivities began. After vchats with Jenn and the parents I went out to dinner with a bunch of friends to our favorite sushi restaurant. We started out the night with some Sake! They ended up paying for me as a birthday gift (thanks guys!!!). Also, my friend Z (from back in Michigan, but lives in Beijing) gave me a 2005 bottle of Zinfandel!!! (Auntie Dawn and Auntie Susan..ahhhhhh). The night proceeded to Bla Bla Bar where dice and foosball was played. Then Mango Club (not as cool as we hoped, but still a fun scene). Then Lush Bar (very chill). Then the dreaded Propaganda and Solutions Clubs (where they had 5RMB shots of Tequila)…finishing up at 5:30AM. All in all a very productive 21st birthday. I awoke at 2:30PM to go eat ‘breakfast’ with my friends at a local café. I ended up getting an English breakfast (toast, eggs, sausage, hash brown, tomato, eggs). Still hungry I ordered a cheeseburger with fries, too. It all tasted quite nice. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and watching some of my newly purchased Chinese movies.

Now this week I will be traveling around and hitting a bunch of sites before the parents arrive on Friday!!! Should be fun. Oh and extending my Visa for one lousy day (silly, but kind of important…).

Now legal,

- Kevin

P.S. Just read the posts from Josh and Yost's neck of the woods...COOL BEANS!!!

Cafe de Klos and Anne Frank

After a ton of train stops and a transfer or two, we managed to find ourselves in Amsterdam on an absolutely beautiful day. The sun was out, there was a cool breeze blowing and people flooded the streets. This city was covered with tourists, and we just added three more.

The thing we noticed first is that there are actually more bicycles than people here. The streets are LINED with parked bicycles, and there are just as many riding around. They even have their own lanes on the streets: and not like a little skinny lane that a handful of people use. This is more like a full lane that they have to themselves (that often times merges with the sidewalk and runs us off of the road as pedestrians). Crazy.

Brian and I got settled into our hotel, and Kevin into his hostel. We met back up, and headed for a late lunch/early dinner that turned out to be breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next week. On a recommendation from my friend Mel, we had to find this place called Cafe de Klos, which was just off of one of the side streets about 20 minutes from our hotel. We made the walk, sat outside, and got ourselves into a world of deliciousness.

First, Yost and I split some escargot that were clearly covered in tons of butter, garlic and cheese, and were delicious. But they are really famous for their meats: most specifically their ribs. Yost and Kevin went for the ribs, and I took a chance (after reading a bit about it online) on the lamb shoulder.

Everyone reading this – I can’t explain to you the amount of meat on these plates. There was so much food it was difficult (even for us) to finish them. The ribs were fantastic, and the lamb shoulder, while unbearably big, was also fantastic. The waiter then asked us what we wanted for our second main course, because everyone orders too. I couldn’t really tell if he was kidding, but the table next to us had just ordered more ribs, so it was entirely possible. As for us, we could barely move, so we opted for the check and took off to explore more of the city.





We ended up at the Anne Frank House (the irony of having pork ribs and then seeing the Anne Frank house was not lost on me, by the way), and decided that since the line was (relatively) short, we would take our chances and wait in the line, as this was the best we were going to do. As it turns out, the line moved pretty quickly, we met some really nice people from Italy, and we were in the museum in about 30 minutes.

The house was an experience that anyone who has the opportunity to do it should. It goes through the whole story of the life of Anne Frank in a very systematic and logical way, including her move to Amsterdam, the Frank family and their hiding place, and their discovery. All throughout the house, there were quotes from her diary, both inspiring and heart wrenching, but you got a feel for the kind of girl that she was. There were documents, pictures and movies all around, and you actually got to go through the secret door behind the bookshelf, up into the room where she lived, and get a feel for where she lived out in hiding. It wasn’t one of those museums that made you feel guilty or terrible once you left, but rather a feeling of appreciation.





We made our way back to our respective places of temporary rest, had a nap, and then went out for the nightlife in Amsterdam. We walked a little way around, grabbed a drink, and headed into a bar/dance floor/club type of thing, which was a lot of fun for the first hour or so. Then the music started getting weak, so we turned around, walked about the city a little bit more, and then went to sleep around 2:30, calling the night a success.

Now, I’m sitting in the lobby of our hotel, eating some breakfast and typing to you. Today, we plan to rent some bicycles (not from a damn machine, but from an actual company) and tour the city on our own terms.

-Josh

Waffles, Flea Market, and 46 Beers on Tap

We arrived safely in Brussels, and had no problem finding our hostel. When we got there, Kevin (Yost’s friend from his program) was already there waiting for us, and we got settled in to our 14 person room called the “White Room.”

Anxious to get out and explore, we pretty much just dropped our stuff and headed out with a map from the front desk. We walked around, grabbed a beer at this area with a bunch of little bars and chairs where people were sitting outside. From there, we heard that there was a place with 46 beers on tap…so we just so happened to stumble upon that as well.

It was pretty empty, and we weren’t exactly sure if we were in the right place because if you have 46 beers on tap, you should be packed 24/7. In any event, this was the place. The staff were amazingly helpful: they asked what you wanted in a beer (wheat, blond, dark, heavy, mild, strong…etc.) and gave you some suggestions. It was a lot of fun. I tried a local, traditional beer called “Lambic Cantillon,” which is made by fermentation in the air rather than in barrels (or something like that), which makes it sour. It was interesting, to say the least, but I’m glad I tried it. Yost had a beer that, “Tastes like beef jerky.”

While we were there, I took it upon myself to do what I always do, and ask for suggestions of favorite local spots at which to eat. The guy thought about it for a while, and suggested “Restobiere.” So, off we went for some dinner.

This place was pretty inconspicuous, but we found it, and when we told them that we didn’t have reservations, we were put upstairs. We thought that would have been a bad thing, but it was a little private room with tons of antique boxes, tins, pictures, and only two other tables of people there. We were immediately greeted with a famous local cherry beer and some bread. Not a bad start…

We looked at the menu and were able to decipher a bit of it, until she brought out the English menu for us. Then we were set to go. Each of us chose to do the three-course menu.

Josh – Warm Goat Cheese Salad, Brussels Pudding, Belgian Waffle
Yost – Pate, Beef Stew, Belgian Waffle
Kevin – Ham and melon, Worst, Belgian Waffle

Most of the dishes were made with beer in them somehow, and the food was absolutely phenomenal. The waffles, especially, were just so light and airy that you don’t feel like you are about to die after you eat one. After that, we called it a night and headed to bed.

The next morning, we woke up early and made our way over to the famous flea market. There were tons of old trinkets, from coins to clothes to keys to…well…really anything you could find at a flea market, and Kevin ended up walking away with a Stella glass for €0.50.

The three of us found a cool sandwich shop on one of the side streets around the market. When we walked it, he asked us what we wanted (in French, or Dutch…) and we just looked confused. He said, “Eggs and Bacon?” And we all said, “Yes!” So, he made up some eggs and a few strips of bacon, put them on a ciabatta, and handed them our way. A delicious impromptu breakfast for €2.6.

We packed up our things from the hostel and then made our way to the historic square as our last stop in Brussels. It was gorgeous. The buildings were tall, gothic and really magnificent. We grabbed some fresh made waffles, sat on a stoop, and watched the square buzz with tourists and a wedding. Off to the train station, and off to Amsterdam.

EuroTrip Part Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh – Paris

I am currently working on an “Africa in Brief” post to put up (and by brief, I mean about 10 pages), but until then I thought we could all just start a new chapter in the travels of 827: EuroTrip.

Brian’s travels from Berlin to Paris were pretty easy done. His exciting moment was having a German guy help him set up his voicemail (which was all in German). My experience was a little more hectic.

The flight from Johannesburg to Frankfurt was wonderful. I got a nice meal in my stomach, had a great night’s rest, and watched “Cop Out” about 12 times. Pretty stupid, but it was one of the only things on.

When I landed in Frankfurt, I hopped a quick train to the actual rail station, where (Yost told me) I could buy a seat reservation to Paris that would get me into the station at 12:49 – the exact time his was getting in. Sounds too easy right? Well…

I went to the desk and asked for the seat reservation on this particular train. “All sold out,” she told me.

“OK, well when is the next one?”
“13:00.”

Not too bad. I tried to get a hold of Yost, but he wasn’t picking up his phone, so I figured I would just book it and he would call when he got a chance. So, I went back to the desk, I asked to just book the seat on the 13:00 train.

“That one is sold out too.”
“OK…when is the earliest I can get to Pairs?”
“Tomorrow.”

Shit. What the hell am I supposed to do now?! I can’t get a hold of Yost, and I can’t make it to Pairs on the day we are supposed to meet. So I went and grabbed a quick snack just to cool off a bit, and then about 20 minutes later checked to see if any seats had opened up. Nothing. I took a walk over to the tourist office just to see if there were hostels around just in case I had to stay the night. She gave me a few places, and by the time we were done I figured I’d make one last attempt to get this train.

“Our machines are down, so we can not see if the train is full, and we can not issue you a ticket.”

The train was about to arrive at the station, so I just decided to try my luck, show up, and sit down hoping that they would let me ride this train. As it turns out, there were two unreserved seats on the ENTIRE train, and since I was there early enough, I grabbed it. And, since it was unreserved and I didn’t buy a reservation, it was free. Even better, I ended up sitting next to a girl from Sweden who was also traveling around Europe (turns out we will be in Rome at the same time, too!), and this lovely woman who is a concert pianist from New York. The three of us had a great time just chatting about everything.

When I arrived in Paris and stepped off the train, a familiar face was staring me down from across the tracks: half of 827 was finally reunited. We caught up on our two-hour walk around the city to find our hostel, during which I think we both sweat off 20-30 pounds. It is so freaking hot in Europe…but I guess that’s what you get for going from winter to summer.

In any event, our hostel was perfect. We shared a room with two other guys who are extremely nice and friendly (one from England and one from German). But who wants to spend their time in Paris in a hostel? So, we grabbed my birthday bottle of wine (given to me by Michael, a former Blue Star specialist from South Africa), some €0.80 baguettes (which were about two feet long), some grapes and a disc and made our way to the Tour Eiffel.

The line was crazy-long, and we didn’t really feel any burning desire to go up to the top anyway. Instead, we chilled out on the lawn, ate our baguettes, drank some wine and had some grapes, and then threw the disc around. After all of that hard work, we just laid out in the grass until about 8:45, and then packed up and walked to see the Arc d’Triumphe and the Louvre. Once again, just the outsides. They’re the most iconic parts anyway, right?





After a great night’s rest, we woke up to our included breakfast that consisted of a croissant, a baguette, and some ridiculously delicious granola. From there, I decided that it was time to finally get my leg checked out (long story short, some African bug bite that I think got infected…I’ll spare the details). So we made our way down the E.R., wrapped my leg up and gave me some antibiotics. Not too exciting…

It was kind of an overcast day, but it was clearing up, so we decided to try these Velib bicycles that they have everywhere around the city so that we can do this amazing self-guided chocolate tour we found in the New York Times. Velib is basically the zipacar of bicycles, in that you pay €1 for the day and get to rent bikes from anywhere in the city and drop them off at any other stand. Cool right? Well, it would have been if the machine took our credit cards. All in all, I think we tried seven or eight different stations, and none of them were working for us. That was kind of a buzzkill, but we chose to do the chocolate tour anyway, only on foot.

We got lost for a good few hours, and when we finally made it to our first destination, we were welcomed with a sign on the door that told us they had permanently moved locations. Damn. Our next stop, however, was supposed to have two of the stores within a few doors of each other. So, we made it back to that side of town, and found our first destination: J.P. Havin. We ordered to truffles (and got two free!), a slice of chocolate-hazelnut cake, and two macarons (all to split, of course…). We grabbed a little stoop outside and dug in.

**Side note on macarons. These are not “macaroons” like we know them in America. These are flaky, light and airy cookies that surround a frosting-like pastry cream. There is a huge debate about who has the best ones in Paris, so we (mostly I) attempted to find out for sure who had the best ones.**



Verdict on J.P. – Awesome! The truffles were great (I think we were both partial to the salted caramel one), and the macarons were really, really good (we both liked the orange-ginger-chocolate one). However, considering they were our first endeavor into the world of macarons, we had nothing to which we could compare them.

Luckily, our next place, Michael Cluicel, was about 10 doors down. We once again got truffles and macarons and settled ourselves on some steps outside. The macarons were much better here, but the truffles were better at J.P. All in all, it was an awesome and fun morning/afternoon.

From there, we went back to find some food and after a long search, stumbled upon this relatively empty brasserie. We asked the guy if he was serving food, and he just pointed to some other guy who had already ordered. It was a quarter chicken, tons of roasted veggies, and some bread. We went for it, and it was pretty delicious.

Off to the hostel, took some naps and caught up on email, and I met these two girls from London and chatted with them for a bit (I think we’re meeting up with them in Amsterdam)…and got ready to meet Yost’s friend Alex for some drinks. However, his train was delayed, and it was raining on and off, so we decided just to grab a cheese and deli plate with some wine at a restaurant right outside our hostel. It was delicious, and we felt pretty Parisian doing it.

The next morning, we planned our day to see some famous landmarks (food and non-food related). The first, a place called Angelina’s, is famous for their hot chocolate…and for good reason. It tasted like someone had melted down a delicious candy bar and served it in a cup. It was so incredibly thick, and we were more than happy we chose to split one. We had it on the go to our next destination, which was the Jewish Quarter in Marais. Here, we heard, were the best falafels in the world. Rumor has it that Lenny Kravitz is partial to them as well.

In any event, we made it to Marais, but we weren’t exactly sure how to find this place. We started asking around for falafel, figuring it was so famous that everyone should know. But people didn’t understand “falafel” until we said it with our terrible “French” accents: falaFEL. Then, apparently people started to get it. They pointed us in the general direction, and we finally stumbled upon the Jewish Quarter (which was pretty cool to see in France, by the way), and found the extremely long line waiting for these famous falaFELs. We got some free samples that they were using as bait (which clearly worked), but we were also told by one of the guys taking the orders that we should stick with the schwarma, and that he’d throw in two falaFEL balls in for free. Done and done.

We waited for a bit, watching the competing falaFEL stand try and muscle its way into the market to no avail. We were finally up, handed the guy our slip, and watched him make two GIGANTIC schwarmas and hand them our way. We walked back to this beautiful little park and had our delicious lunch, and continued our walk to Notre Dame, which is still a really impressive church. Once again, standing in line for 4 hours just to see this inside of it wasn’t exactly our cup of tea, so we did the Chevy Chase Vegas Vacation look-around, and started on our way to Pierre Herme.






Pierre Herme is supposed to be the end-all-be-all of macarons. And holy shit was it. They had so many crazy flavors, and were far superior to any other place we had been. I tried three of them (yes, don’t judge me, this is an experiment for the knowledge of the world): strawberry-wasabi, rose (a very close second favorite), and my all time favorite olive oil and vanilla. You would never think that olive oil and vanilla would taste that good, but it was out of this world stellar.

We made our way to the Luxembourg Garden, where there was a pond on which children were sailing little boats, tables where old men were playing chess, tennis courts, and tons of lawns where people were sitting and having picnics and relaxing. We thought it would be a good choice to rest our bones a bit from all the walking around, so we chilled out in these gardens for a bit and did a bit of people watching.



From there, we made our way back toward the hostel (on the way helping two girls from Holland and Sweden try to make a reservation at our same hostel), but decided to explore the area a little bit more. We found our way to the Sacre Coeur, a big church with an amazing town around it overlooking the entire city. We ordered some crepes (Grand Marnier for me, sugar for Yost), and sat on the steps of the church, listened to an orchestra of four twenty-something year old girls, and watched the city and the people. Really a fantastic day. But it wasn’t over just yet…

After napping at the hostel for a while, we took a suggestion from the guy at the front desk and headed down for dinner at this little place at the bottom of a giant set of stairs outside our hostel. It was out of this world good. We both got the duck with an orange sauce, roasted potatoes and some veggies, and split a bottle of wine. The food there was phenomenal, and we were both pretty satisfied.

We had about half the bottle of wine left, so we took it back up to the Sacre Coeur area, I got another crepe (Nutella and banana, the staple), and we watched the city at nighttime. The perfect ending to a perfect day.

Our last day in Pairs was upon us. I woke up early and grabbed some breakfast before heading over to the hospital to get my leg re-wrapped. As it turns out, they only take walk-ins starting at 1PM, even though I told them I was leaving for Brussels and they told me I could come in. They gave me a wrap and sent me on my merry way, and that was that.

We packed up our things, and headed back to the Sacre Coeur area just to take some photos, hang out and kill some time. After that, we headed to the train station to book our tickets to Brussels. We just missed the express train because of the long line, so we got cheap tickets (two train changes), and hopped aboard.


And here we are, on our way to Brussels. Paris – you were wonderful to us, but we have a bit more to see around Europe. Thanks for your time and hospitality.

More to come!

-Josh

Malagueta and More

Readers,

The last you heard from me was before the Deutschland vs. Spain game so that's where I will pick up. Everyone was excited and the fan mile was packed. After a few performances including Stromae (check out Alors on Danse on youtube) the game started. Not that great of a game and even worse after Germany lost. It was pretty depressing seeing grown men and women crying but inside a select few of us were pretty happy. You see, we had already planned a trip to Malaga, Spain for that weekend, which also happened to be the World Cup finals weekend. If Germany won, we would have to fly back a day early to watch the finals in Berlin, or if Spain won, we could watch the game in Spain. Call it selfish but I was glad to not have to leave Spain early. That Friday morning Adam, Zach, Kevin, Bailey, Lindsay, and myself went to the airport and were on our way. Unfortunately not 5 minutes after sitting down my headphones/iPod fell on the ground?, were picked up, and never returned. I was on my way to Spain so I couldn't be too upset. We arrived, got to our hostel, got to see our roommate who was an old guy who occupied his bed probably 65 of the 72 hours we were there, and then off to the beach. This was a common trend of the weekend, going to the wonderful beach and seeing all the beautiful people. We did some sightseeing, saw the Picasso museum, and then went to the highlight of the weekend. Spain and Netherlands were playing Sunday night, and the game was being shown in the local bullfighting ring! What a game too! Spain scored the only goal in extra time which of course led to madness in the stadium. Wish you were there with me? Here's a video after Spain scored, complete with flares, fireworks, and screaming.





Back home we finished up the last week of the program with trips to the Gasometer (80 meter tall structure that we climbed), TUB's brewery (where one can earn a legitimate Master's degree in Brewing), Peenemünde, the Baltic Sea, and the Reichstag. On the last day we gave our final presentations and had a nice goodbye BBQ. That night we went to two cool clubs, the first Weekend which was on the 15 floor of a building, and the second was Club Felix which had a special outdoor beach party. Now I'm patiently waiting until Tuesday when me and Josh meet to start our one month journey. First stop...Paris!









Au revoir gopher,

Brian

Trip to Inner Mongolia

上个周末我去内蒙古了。我照很多漂亮的照片。我也去大通看看佛像。都很有意思。

This past weekend I went on a trip to the Inner Mongolian Province (still in China, North of the Great Wall). I only brought my camera backpack, which I filled with my camera, telephoto lens, batteries, toiletry bag, two shirts, sweatpants, and two pairs of boxers. We departed from Beijing (北京)1:00PM by bus. The busses seemed reasonably comfortable at first. Fairly cushy seats, legs had a few inches of wiggle room, and air con. They had quoted us 4 hours for the ride their with one pit stop. It ended up taking 9 hours (typical China planning). When we finally did arrive in Inner Mongolia, it was pitch black out and about 40°F (nice change from the blistering heat). We had some good food, watched a performance outside in the “Harry Potter Quidditch Arena”, danced, and went to sleep. We slept in Mongolian tents (yurits). They were surprisingly warm. However, they warned us of mouse droppings everywhere and to not kill the mice in the tent, as it would be very messy (how nice of them to tell us). I slept quite well except for the slight chill. I luckily woke up the next morning early enough to see the sunrise! Not only was the sunrise beautiful, but I also discovered that our camp was in the middle of an enormous wind farm! I couldn’t believe my eyes, absolutely incredible. I grabbed my camera and went crazy. I ended up walking/awkwardly running about 3 miles by the end of the morning from wanting to get different shots. After a good morning of shooting, we had a yummy breakfast (minus the rotten egg I got that would come back to haunt me) and headed out to watch the Mongolian wrestling and horse race. Turns out that the jockeys are the wrestlers. In addition, they idea of a race is the jockeys running back and forth and seeing who can pick up the most money off the ground (quite interesting; 很有意思). A few students from our group also attempted to wrestle against the Mongolian jockeys only to get taken down every time by the same guy (he must have done at least 10 matches; what a champ).

(our driver was WAY to close to the other trucks)

(Classic Mongolian...haha)

(everyone showing off their squatting abilities - very important in China)

(music show)

(Mongolian wrestling)

(guy from UNC getting owned)

(Harry Potter Quidditch arena)

(tent-mates; missing one of them)

After a fun show we got to ride the horses ourselves. It started out with them merely walking the horses while we slowly followed. However, thanks to either my Chinese speaking abilities or incredible ability to annoy for a long time, I was able to go on my own and really go fast. Now that was fun. It felt pretty cool. And it felt even cooler that my horse understood my Chinese (that made me feel good). After horses and a quick try at archery we boarded the bus again to go to lunch…two hours away. Lunch was delicious! It was also very quick. Before we knew it, we were back on the bus to go to the four star hotel we would be staying at. The hotel was amazing! Comfortable beds, included slippers, included robes, best shower ever, and air con! A few friends and I went out for some drinks before dinner and chilled in a nearby family park. They were having a nice squatting session (where everyone just squats together as a family…). We then departed to dinner which was…火锅！！！(hot pot) Oh it was soo nice to have this again. And this restaurant finally carried a peanut sauce like home…yum. After demolishing dinner, a relaxing night of cards, dancing, and talking on the terrace, we all hit the hay.

(series of food shots for Kay...)

(apparently if I looked like a horse, it would be this one)

(cool horse tricks)

(before and after of 火锅)

Sunday started with an interesting Chinese-French fusion breakfast before the bus ride to 大通 (Da Tong). 大通 was incredible. We got to explore the caves and pagodas filled with tributes and shrines to the Buddha. Despite the hustle and bustle of tourism, they was still a feeling of ‘presence’ as the statues/murals/carvings were just so astounding to be around. This was unfortunately the end of our trip. The only thing remaining was another 7-hour bus ride (quoted to be 4 hours).

(series of pics of the Buddha caves)

(more food for Kay...)

This week I am mainly just studying up for my final exam next Monday/Tuesday. Then next week, I have final exam, graduation, and two birthday parties! One is with my BLCU friends before my birthday (since they are leaving), followed by one with my longer-term friends on my actual birthday two days later. It’s going to be a very interesting week.

我希望你们都喜欢我刚写的。

再见！

－ 熊猫