After class (where we sang the U.S. anthem to celebrate Independence Day) and tutoring today, our professor told us we had group dinner today, and my classmates asked him if we could have American food for dinner to celebrate Independence Day. After we asked around, we headed to an "American restaurant," which was actually just a cafe that sold sandwiches and pizza (which technically are "American" foods). On our way there, we found this Korean restaurant with pictures of Korean celebrities on the walls, so my Korean friends/unnis (Korean word for a girl older than you are) agreed to come back to the restaurant at a later time.
Because the majority of my classmates didn't want to eat at this cafe, we ended up just heading to Burger King (which I was excited for because I got to try another American food brand in China). The menu just looked better in China (and in Asia, everything is properly proportioned). I got a spicy whopper, which was good, and a tropical sundae, which was also really good.
After coming back, we ended Fourth of July successfully with another watermelon party (what we now also call 西瓜 PARTY / xīguā PARTY) in front of the hotel!
Day 53: Today after class we visited the Protestant Church in old Qingdao, which is known officially as the 青岛基督教福音堂 (AKA qīngdǎo jīdūjiào fúyīn táng / Qingdao Christian Gospel Church). There were a lot of people taking wedding pictures in front of it. There was an entrance fee, but I heard that if you came during one of the service times, you could get in for free!
We went up to see the German-made bell, which is hundreds of years old, ring. Because we were waiting for the 3 o'clock bell, we only got to hear the bell ring three times, and it was so quick that it was a little disappointing, but everything was still cool. In the pictures, you can see Georgia Tech students trying to figure out the inner workings of the bell!
We also went into the chapel, and compared to the outside, it was really plain. I still think nothing beats the interior of the church in Shanghai that I attended.
Like I said, the outside of the church was really pretty, and it really looked European, which makes sense because the church was built by the Germans during their occupation of Qingdao.
As you can see, there are tons of couples taking wedding pictures.
After our visit to the Protestant Church, we went to the famous Governor's Mansion. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, Qingdao is a small city, so I feel that everything important is close to each other, so on our way to the Governor's Mansion, our professor pointed out other popular attractions that were also near the area.
The Governor's Mansion was basically the former German governor's mansion during the German occupation of Qingdao, but afterwards, it served as a guesthouse for important visitors to Qingdao, like Mao Zedong.
We weren't allowed to take pictures in the mansion, but I tried to be a "truly Chinese," and I broke the rules, but not excessively. I took two pictures of the garden in the mansion because I felt like it was the prettiest area of the mansion.
I guess my expectations for the mansion was really high especially after watching a video about it before the actual tour, but honestly, I was a little disappointed. The furniture looked fake (especially the fireplaces), and the building was really empty, so I felt like there wasn't much to see. As a result, a lot of us left the tour early and headed to the coffee shop in the basement of the mansion.
Although I was a little disappointed about the inside of the mansion, I can't help but admit that the outside was really beautiful. Like with the church, it felt like I was in a small village in Europe.
Day 54: Today was our last day of class for the week because our professor had cancelled Thursday's class. After eating breakfast, I went to class.
Our professors made sure to buy and distribute different fruits each week, and in didn't happen in Shanghai, but a lot of our fruit rotted in Qingdao even after my roommate and I washed the fruit and placed them in clean bags, so we had to throw out peaches after class today.
After our tutoring session, we had calligraphy class. They had this really cool practice paper where we could use just water, and when the water touched this paper, it looked like black ink was used to write. When the water evaporated, the words disappeared, and we could use the paper again! After practicing on these sheets of paper, our professor told us to pick a word or a phrase (preferably 1 character or 4 characters) to actually write and frame.
I was planning to write the traditional form of 高兴 (AKA gāoxìng / happiness), which you can see below, but my professor said it was too colloquial, so I chose to write the single character 乐 () in traditional characters (樂), which is another way to say 快乐 (AKA kuàilè / happiness). We even got seals with our Chinese names engraved to sign our calligraphy! Mine didn't come out great compared to the other students, but I was a little nervous, so hopefully, when I do it again, it'll look better!
After dinner, we had another 西瓜 Party! I love our professor!
After a comparatively fast 西瓜 Party, we went to KTV for karaoke. Although our professors took students a lot even in Shanghai, I never went, but today I decided to go because today was one of the last days we were spending with one of our professors (because he was heading back after spending 8 weeks with us). Also, many of my classmates were heading to Beijing tomorrow, so I wouldn't be able to see them for 4 days, so I decided to go. I had fun singing along to all the English, Korean, and Chinese songs and really, really enjoyed listened to our professors sing. They were the best singers in the group!
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