So finally I asked the girls if they had a skipping rope. they had. It was old elastic that had two functions: to play elastic and to play skipping rope!


























Time of group photo!


























  For the week-end, the husband of Zhang (the english teacher) came to the school. As Zhang was busy with correctin, he took me for ride on his motorcycle. We went around, the landscape was as usual breathtaking and the rock below also...


















































Saturday night, last night at Shan Men. There was a big dinner.. lot of food, lot of beer.. who said Chinese don't drink?? it was crazy, they make each other drink... each of them, one by one during the meal stands up and go around the table, asking every single person to toast with him. first it's one cup.. but then after a while it becomes two cups... and can't really refuse.. fortunately i was a girl so after 1 000 times of telling the guy  "just a bit, no not two cups.." I could drink what I wanted.. but it was hard! but it was funny! everybody got completely drunk...
























"goodbye" picture :(

























"goodbye" picture :(

























Then I joined Xiao Li and together we drove around in the countryside to see sevral families and school. to give them the money for the kids and to make them sign the contract between them and the organization.

























the landscape...




















































On eof the kids house.

























































contract signed with the Chinese old-style stamp.


























This is one of the kid signing!

























She was so cute!

























cause i'm still obsessed with solar energy.


























"goodbye" picture :( :(
Xiao Li and I in one of Baoji night club! (we were back to the city) when we had finished with checking all the kids, we drove back to Baoji (4 hours drive..). Xiao Li lives in Baoji. He showed me around the city but especially a very good Uighur restaurant (miam), a K-TV, A night club and the night market (re-miam!). it was a real good time but then I had to take the train back to polluted Beijing.. and this is the end..

 i don't like the summary I've just done... it's too short, you can't understand how fantastic these 2 weeks were, how cute are the kids, how sad they are, how difficult the life is over there, how simple the relations and things are, how beautiful is the landscape, how horrible are the toilets, how crazy are the roads, how much I loved the carcter of the Chinese grandmother, how many times I ate noodles, how many other pictures I took, how many interesting chats I had with Xiao Li, how much my Chinese improved, how much i'd like to go back there again...

Important news: In one week I'll be volunteering with children in Chinese countryside

As from next Friday, I can’t go any more to the lab cause it closes because of the Olympics. So I won’t be able to carry any additional experiments. And then, if I finish my report on Friday, I can consider my vacations starts on Friday night.

My sister arrives on the 18^th of July.

In between, I thought first travelling to Japan and Taiwan. But I can’t (visas visas arch!)

Then I thought, let’s go to Hainan, the Chinese Hawai and spend some time around just relaxing and meditating about life.

And finally, I’m gonna volunteer for a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO).

I’m leaving on Sunday (the 29^th) night, taking an overnight train to Tianshui in Gansu province. And I’m gonna spend few days in a remoted school helping the Chinese teacher.

After having spent my entire week sending mails to every NGO acting in China, I finally got one answer. It’s a French NGO, Children of Madaifu (www.madaifu.org), very serious, founded by the former Vice-President of Medecins Sans Frontieres. Anne, one of the NGO volunteers answered me and tried to get me afraid with the conditions of living. It simply didn’t work :)

The school has no shower, only elementary toilets in the courtyard and one single tap outside. And there are no better facilities in the village.

We met yesterday in Beijing to talk a little bit more of my mission. I’ll go with their local manager Xiao Li to visit the children the organization helps and then we’ll go to one of the school whose English teachers need help. But what I can do is very broad, any initiative is welcome. So from talking to them in English, to play ping-pong and basket-ball with them and learn how to play skipping-rope to little girls who have never seen once...  My first mission is so to do some shopping in Beijing to buy any toys that could be useful over there.

As for my state of mind now, I feel like it's first time of my life i'm really proud of doing something. I'm sure this experience is going to be kind of tough and it might change my state of mind. I think it's the best initiative I've ever taken. I have now so many idea how to help and I'm sure I'm gonna have so many others once I'll get over there, I have to get prepared for this long psychological trip.

German restaurant for Florian’s birthday

 

Friday night was Florian’s birthday.

He organized a dinner in Salitun at one of the very few and well-known German restaurants of Beijing.

It was another funny night in Beijing half-full of German spirit and half full of French Engineering school students spirit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First, the German spirit: very good food, very good beer…

My meal was simply a dear souvenir of european food: Veal escalope VIENNA style.. but unfortunately also a souvenir of European prices.. (2, 3 times more expensive than a normal restaurant in Beijing).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And I have to admit (may I precise I don't like beer...) that the German beer was very good :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Second the French Engineering school spirit:

Florian’s nickname is TGV. TGV are high speed French trains. So where this nickname comes from might excite your imagination.. Apparently, it has some links with his first year integration week-end..

Anyway, Friday night, TGV’s meaning was more about :

T equila

G in

V odka

In one single same glass…

 

To undertand, discover or simply remind what the French engineering school spirit is about:

 

Massage evening with Vanessa

Last Tuesday, after my Chinese class, Vaness and I went to have a 1h30 massage : 3/4h foot massage, 3/4h full body massage. It was…..





legend..



































wait for it










































Wait for it..

























Dary!


And it’s a real good exercise to practice your Chinese.

But in some ways, when u go and have a massage you only wish to relax and not to talk.... but my Chinese masseur didn’t agree on that.
So, from the “where do you come from” question,
to the “do you have a boyfriend” one
passing by the “how old do you get married in France?” one
and by the “could I set up a massage business in France and earn a good living?” one..

I hesitated asking him "can we get that massage for free?" but I thought he was gonna think of free massages and something else so I simply shut my mouth... :)

I'm not on strike, just settling down for few weeks in Beijing!

All my previous trips finally got me a bit tired.. yes! It happens sometimes! So I just needed to stay at home for a while. Plus my internship's coming to the end, and the end means also writting a report..

While discussing with Wei Meng, he casually told me "And oh, you know what? The lab is closed in July. Because of the Olympics.." so basically I'm in vaccations in 2 weeks. and so basically this is a promise too again more travelling, more articles, more adventures! My sister arrives on the 18th of July in Beijing, so I have 20 days of travelling before she arrives and before we go together to South China. :))))))))

The only prb. Visa. I only got a 6 months single entry visa when I arrived in February. So, if I want to go to Tokyo and say "Hello" to my Dear Ondine over there or to go and "chtoubiser" with my Clément in Taipei, I need to have a double entry, otherwise I'll be able to go out of China but not to go in again. And that would be a pity as my flight back home takes off from Beijing :)

But as I have 20 more days of vaccations, you guess I won't stay still.. so what I'm probably gonna try (some people told it was possible) is going out of China, ie going to Hong-Kong or Japan and ask over there for a 1 month single entry tourist visa. But I still have to plan all of these new very interesting travelling ideas... :)))))))) The condition is also to find cheap options.. otherwise I'll stay in China where I know how to travel not for a lot of money and easily. (and by the way, I haven't been to Tibet yet :) )

My previous week-end was a lot of partying and going out.
First, last Friday night, I went and picked up my dear uncle at his hotel, and then we had a walk around as the hotel was very well located: just next to Wangfujing. So we went to Wangfujing snack street, I showed him all the appetizing creatures you can test there (scorpions, butterfly cocoon, grasshoppers, seahorses, seastars..). But he wasn't so adventurous! So we finally agreed on coconut milk :)












































After a nice dinner on a Chinese restaurant terrace (uncommon enough in Beijing to appreciate it!), I joined some folks around the Salitun area (Beijing bars - night clubs area). And, as usual we ended Friday night in Blu Bar (next time I take pictures..) Back home at 5am, when the sky is not any more dark! And so Saturday was pretty lazy in busy Beijing..

Saturday, I went to see the play alex performs in (in French). Since the beginning of September, Alex is part of a play band. He had rehearsals every Monday and Tuesday till 11pm, later it became till 1am and more recently it ended being Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday till 1am and rehearsal during week-end. So we didn't see him a lot the past weeks, ans so we were very very very mad after him.. so he'd better be a good actor.
































So, on Saturday night, I went and checked Alex acting skills. And well, he's not bad :) he's even very good! It's quite funny cause talking about theatre, we came out with the fact we performed in the same play, but me with my school in Paris and he with his school in Lyon! (The ten little negros by Agatha Christie)
Anyway, this time, he was playing in a very strange play, absurd style, called "Diablog". Basically, the only things I think (I'm still not sure about anything concerning this play) I understood was the author was obsessed with death and illnesses. Then after the play, we went and eat with all the actors who are more or less all teachers at Beijing French High School.


Sunday was also very lazy, but I finally found some time to test Chinese massage.. :)) and now  that I know where is a cheap and convenient place, I think I'm gonna spend a lot more time over there :)) especially after my Chinese class cause it's very close. So 6 euro for a 1h full body massage.. and you can go there whenever you want, it never closes! yes, even at 2am if you need a massage just go!  (i'm talking about real massages, not fake prostitutes made ones, that, I don't really know, but I guess at 2am you could also find some ;) )
After this 1h massage, couple of nerves unblocked in my back, but still many pains remaining from the massage itself (cause a massage doesn't mean pleasure here, it's often painful. but painful means relaxed afterward so all in all..), i went to Thibault's birthday.

What's celebrating a birthday in China?

















Big tables in a Chinese restaurant, with many dishes and rolling tray.
























A huge cake from the French style bakery "Tous les jours" (but actually owned by a Korean company) close to where we live.


















And a Baijiu bender. Une cuite au Baijiu!!! (rice alcohol)



















Then, you generally finish at Propaganda, the coolest and cheapest night club around Wudaokou.


As for me, my Vodka-RedBull kept me awake the entire night. So I finished watching again the last episodes of How I Met Your Mother, and damn the end is lame! What's the hell! Why Barney has to become so pathetic, why? If he's not funny any more who's gonna be! Ted maybe? OOOOh come on always looking for his great love and so on.. No, no Ted is old-fashionned! They'd better find a good scenario trick to make the serie fun again. or I boycott the fourth season.

My monday was lazy (yes, I know it's not usual but sometimes I need to re-load :) and by the way, Monday was a day off for everybody in China that's why i didn't go to work that day)
But still, my Monday wasn't completely lazy cause I've spent some time cooking for my three favourites budies: Alex, Richard and Yoann.
Menu:
Rillettes de Canard
Salade de saison au vinaigre basalmique
Confit de Canard
Pommes de terre sautées dans la graisse de Canard aux petits oignons
Salade verte
Melon
































Par contre, le pain avait un gout de sucre.... sniff... ca fait bizarre des rillettes sucrées.. mais bon c'était bon quand même.



































































Oui bon la photo est pas géniale géniale mais qu'est ce que c'était bon!! en plus c'était le premier vrai confit de Richard dont la maman a toujours cuisiné cantonais chez lui!



































Allez, faites pas la gueule, la plupart d'entre vous pouvez manger autant de fromage que vous voulez..

All of these, of course, thanks to my mum and grandma who sent me some food from France: Thank you!


Then, this week, I went back to work, started my report, kept on learning some Chinese, and also discovered some new very nice places on the campus. Have a look on the pic:


































And yes, the campus is in Beijing!
It was just perfect for a picnic!


I have to go now, and i only hope Ireland will validate the EU simplified treaty!!!!

After all this travelling, I thought I had to give you my conclusions about what travelling around China really is?

1. Asking Chinese people to take a picture for you.
2. Getting used to people staring at you and taking picture of you/with you
3. Transports: anykind everykind
4. Every Chinese city has its night market (except Beijing... sniff)
5. Having fun reading Chinese translations


1. Asking Chinese people to take a picture for you.
































The guy don't even wait for us to be ready.











































We wanted the sculpture behind!!!!


































He though the rock was one of our friends.




































He thought the TREE was one of our friend!


































Better but still not centered!


2. Getting used to people staring at you and taking picture of you/with you

































"What's wrong with her face?"


































These two guys were sitting behind us and they kept offering us food during the meal. First meat sticks, then bread, then nuts...












































Vanessa, kindly posing with a Chinese girl.











































And this, it's Richard relapsing into his Chinese origins..




3. Transports: anykind everykind


































Waiting room of Beijing West Station. We're about to spend the night in the train, hard-sleeper tickets, just perfect for a good night!



































Morning! A nice lady comes to wake you up so that you're sure not to miss your stop, smart don't you think?



































Once arrived we have to buy other tickets. In China, you can only buy train tickets from the city you're leaving and no more than 10 before. So for example, if we want to do Beijing Zhengzhou, Zhengzhou Luoyang, we have to wait for being in zhengzhou to buy the tickets to go to Luoyang, so it forces you to wait for the last minute.. it's always a big stress when you have to buy your tickets to go back: is there any sleeper ticket remaining, is there any sleeper ticket remaining... that's what happened when we came back from Datong, we only could buy hard seats.. i won't do it again..




































So then hard seat. For a short journey it's fair enough. For one entire night with people everywhere, it's not.



































Then city bus.



































Mmmm not sure how it's called... but for sure it's difficult to fit 5 people in that!




































Everybody was talking to our driver! something like "O my god, foreigners foreigners!!"



































then long distance bus.



































Transport syndrome...



































Then black cab.













































And to finish, soft sleeper, I slept like a baby!




4. Every Chinese city has its night market (except Beijing... sniff)

































A night market is a place with a lot of people and a lot of food =)



































Baozi...



































Kind of brioche.



































different kinds of powder that are to be mixed with water...
































































and then they add some jelly pearls..


































Humm not bad!


































But the pearls always stay at the bottom of your glass.


































Omelette.


































Fruits and vegetables.












































Kind of donut.


































Cream puff.


































Richard bought 500g of this!


































Watermelon!

































Watermelon forever!



































In a night market, you always find a place to sit down.


































on tiny chairs and tiny table.



































We order meat sticks as usual.





































































And a grilled fish!!












































And jiaozi, the very best =))


































You also find easily anykind of noodles: good or bad ones.











































And you also buy Chinese beer to digest everything.


































An other typical kind of food is these kind of boiled sticks. We took some and we also think it got us sick afterwards..Vanessa didn't eat that and she wasn't sick but all the other we were... apparently, it's famous for not being the most hygienic food.. but there's really worse than this... just have a look on the picture below...


































Do you want some meat?

























v








Are you sure? Just a piece? It's just a couple of flies around, not a big deal...




5. Having fun reading Chinese translations

My week-end in Miyun!

As I told you, to escape Beijing, we went few km north, to a place which is sometimes called "Beijing lung".. speaking about lungs, but where are mine??? the worst thing is when you cycle cause you feel all the dust and small particles crashing on your face.. mmmm...
when it's more than 30C, it is unbreathable here!

Anyway...so let me show you some pics of last week-end.

We were 8 people, all French except Jennifer and Hilde who are Norwegian.  Hilde at the extreme top right and Jennifer is down right on the pic (yes, Jennifer doesn't look Norwegian cause she has Philipean origins!)
The other people were French students at Tsinghua (except Lorine). so in order on the pic, me, Catherine (from ENSTA), Alex (from Centrale Lyon), Thibault (from Centrale Nantes), Lorine (has been studying Chinese in Paris for 4 years, she's a real expert! she's in Beijing for one year), then Hilde, and down, Richard (from Centrale Nantes) and Jennifer.
































First day, mountain and water!! but we couldn't go in it unfortunately..










































We just dip our feet in it. Alex, making his show as usual ;) wanted to explore a bit more the depth of the water...
































and so what was predictable happened..
































































Again nice writtings:

Forbidden coming.. but i was already there.. oups

































I really thought a lot afterwards about how to meet somebody carefully...
































We slept in a kind of local hotel run by local people. The area was very peaceful! and it was so nice to wake up with this view!
































The next day we decided to go and explore a part of the Great Wall which was just in the surroundings.
































But before arriving to the tower, the way was long, very long and very very not flat...... :(































Adding to that, it was 35C!!

Alex, kind of exibitionist...










































































Not bad right?










































Nice meat stick!
































And finally we arrived at the tower! (after 2h of climbing...)
































Ouhou! it's really beautiful upstairs!
































And then we settled down inside a while, playing cards! I won, of course :) We played asshole (yes, it's international..) and i finished with stealing Richard position : PresidentE !! and all of this while, peacefully, reading Lorine's Cosmopolitan :)
































Picture break. Both Catherine and I wanted to have a group picture, so we decided to put our camera on the rocks. Her pic was very good. and mine....

































Arch.. F**ng plant!

































This was the entrance of this long path till the tower.

































Having a rest before going back...
































Before taking the bus back to Beijing:
My first KFC in my life...
verdict: can do better..
fortunately, once out of this place, i went and bought half a kg of cherries (1.6euro/kg!) and half a kg of blackberries.. at the same price.. and i found that much much much better!
































Coming soon:
my week-end in Henan, province south of Beijing.
Buddhist caves, traditional villages and and and... Shaolin temple!!!