Sunday was a lazy day for the most part. We got up lazily and just ate a late breakfast and then hung around the dormitory, studied, and just goofed off. Then a friend and I decided to go for a run because we had been wanting to all week but hadn't really had then energy to do it. So we finally got dressed, stretched and started our run. We soon learned the meaning of "mountain" campus. It's not like Western's hill. These really are mountains and the buildings are just built into the side of these mountains. After about a good five minutes of running we decided to stop as we were halfway up a very long set of steps. Instead of running we opted for a good brisk walk. Well, the walk soon turned into sitting and watching the school's soccer team play an opposing team.
The exercise day wasn't totally wasted though. After getting bored watching soccer we kept walking around just exploring the upper part of campus that we had not seen before this time. Remember SISU is built into a mountains and their is one BIG mountain right behind the campus called Gele Mountain. Well as we're exploring we found a small trail and decided to hike it for a little while. I think that's one of the few moments I've had now where I think "wow, I'm in China!" We were hiking up this mountain with bamboo all around us, birds cawing in the trees and all the while the city of Chongqing was behind us in all its glory.
As we continue to hike we realize just how big this mountain really is. After a good hour hike, with a few rests here and there, we finally made it to the top of Gele mountain. And boy was it worth it. Even though we couldn't get to the main overlook because we didn't bring money with us, we could look out from the peak and see the beautiful city of Chongqing, if you have a good enough imagination to see through the smog after the first few buildings. But it was still majestic in its own unique way. After getting our share of gawking at the beautiful landscape we headed back down the mountain which was only about a 30-45 minute hike. To reward ourselves for the hard work we went with some other people into the shopping area called Shapingba and treated ourselves to some McDonald's. Mmmm....it had been over a week since I had had any food closely resembling American food. For the most part the McDonald's chicken sandwich tasted the same but the chicken was just a little different. But the fries were glorious. I don't plan on treating to myself to McDonald's too much but I'm sure I'll give in at some point again.
The rest of the week has been pretty uneventful. Classes are crazy intense. We have class from 8 in the morning till 12 with only a couple 10 minute breaks in between. Then we have a three hour break which apparently all the local students use to go home and take a nap. That usually ends up being food and more study time for our group though. After a three hour break we go back to class from 3-4:30. And each teacher is always sure to assign a lot of homework. Some of it is written but often it is homework to go out into town and speak Chinese with locals and just practice our Chinese. Which is proving to be an awesome way of learning, though embarrassing at times because I can be saying the correct word but with the wrong tone so they will have no clue what I am saying. But we are all definitely improving as each day goes by, including our character writing skills.
Wednesday was the last day here for one of our trip coordinators, Cheryl. She is my favorite of the adults on this trip. I'm sad that she had to leave because she was a lot of fun to talk to and hang out with and we all called her Mama Cheryl. So as a parting gift we took her out to eat to a restaurant that is actually under a bridge that crosses over a waterfall. You're probably thinking it's this beautiful restaurant with a nice clean tables, big windows and excellent service. To be honest that's what I thought by the way some of our group members described it. No, that was not the case. It was a dirty cement restaurant with dogs just wandering around, short plastic stools for chairs, and just holes for the windows. Some of the food however was still wonderful and totally worth the minor let down. Not to mention eating under a bridge with a waterfall right outside the "window" was still pretty awesome.
Thursday was a regular class day as well. But after classes three of my classmates and I went to the train station to buy some train tickets for our trip this week. Because of the Dragon Boat Festival we have almost an entire week off of school. Originally our group leaders had planned on flying us to this beautiful place whose name I can't spell. But the airport was at an altitude of 13,000 feet and some people on our trip have bad asthma so they decided to cancel the trip and instead they are giving us the money they set aside for the trip and letting us do our own thing. So four of us are going to a place called Guilin. It's supposed to be one of the most beautiful places in China. It has crystal clear lakes of water at the bases of this huge set of mountains. I'm so excited to see it. It is a 19 hour train ride which is going to be interesting. We tried to get a soft sleeper compartment which is REALLY nice but not terribly expensive here in China. However, because language barrier we accidentally got hard sleepers. Which are basically as many cots as they can fit shoved into one compartment. And we're split up into groups of two unfortunately. But it will be an experience that's for sure. We leave tonight (Friday) and ride the train over night. So all I have to do is get through this last day of classes and then I'm free for the week!
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