Archive for ‘2011’

So you're living in Korea, and you want to bring your spouse to America, how should you do it? Should you listen to the people at the Embassy, and read the information from their website? No. It's useless, especially if you want to be given any sort of correct time frame for the whole process. Instead, read this bit of helpful advice.


1. Make sure you are still a legal resident of the U.S. and can prove it with State Income Tax Returns, bank statements, loan statements, etc.

2. The American citizen (sponsor) needs to fill out an I-130 form Petition for Alien Relative. This petition basically states who you are, and who you want to bring to America with you. Make copies.

3. Both the citizen (sponsor) and spouse (applicant) need to fill out a Biographic Data G-325 form. Make copies.

4. You'll need a copy of your marriage certificate, and your spouses birth certificate. If your spouse comes from a country that doesn't really issue birth certificates, than school records, baptismal records, etc. should work. Make sure that they are all dated from when the spouse was younger. My husband's was dated for the date it was issued (about 3 weeks before we applied) and they wouldn't accept it. Make copies.

5. Set up an appointment with the Embassy. It should take less than 30 minutes to get through everything, provided there is no line in front of you (which means get there early). Print your appointment email.

6. Bring lots of money to the Embassy (and make it American money). It says online that the fee is $420, but the Embassy has their own conversion rate, so it winds up being closer to $500. Get the money exchanged before you go. Bring extra just in case.

7. Make sure you have about 8-10 passport sized photos that you will be needing over the entire course of the application process.

8. Go to the Embassy at your appointed time. At this step you just have to provide the embassy man at the window all your paperwork, he glances at it to make sure everything is in order, keeps the copies, and tells you to pay downstairs.

9. Wait for a confirmation email from the Embassy, stating that your initial application has been approved. You will receive something called a "Packet 3" which isn't really a packet, but an email with links. This should take 2 or 3 weeks.

10. Timing. This is really important. You need to make sure you time everything properly, to ensure that 1) you wont have to leave for America earlier than expected and 2) You wont be getting the visa to late. Once you get your "Packet 3" you have 1 year to make your final appointment with the Embassy. If you have a job with a contract, you don't want to make your appointment more than 5 months before you plan on leaving the country (I'll explain why later). You also don't want to make your appointment any less and 2 months before you plan on leaving, in case there are any complications.

11. Getting your information together. **sidenote: this information is for those with a non-Korean spouse. Although you can use the basic information if you are married to a Korean, Koreans need to get some extra documentation

12. The spouse (applicant) needs to fill out a DC-230 form 1 and form 2. This form basically gives background information about the spouse, where they lived and worked, and basic information about the sponsor (citizen). Make copies

13. The spouse needs a Korean background check. Best bet is to get this done at the main Police station in Seoul or Busan. I've heard that you can get it done locally, but I've also heard you can't. You will need to go to your local City Hall with a Korean person who speaks English, and have them officially translate it into English (since the police report is in Korean). Make copies

14. Your spouse also needs a background check for their home country, preferably with their country's form of notarization. Also, if your spouse has lived in any other country for more than 6 months, they will have to get a background check for there also. Make copies,

15. Again, your spouse needs copies of a birth certificate (or equivalent), marriage certificate, adoption, dead or divorce certificates. You might also need these for Step 4, but my husband had none of the last three so it didn't apply to us.

16. Next, you need to show the Embassy that you can support your spouse, and they wont become a ward of the state. If you live and make money in Korea, you will HAVE TO file a joint application. It doesn't matter how much you make in Korea, since it's not American money you still have to have a joint sponsor. The easiest way is to file your own I-186 Affidavit of Support form, proving that you at least make money while working in Korea. You also need to file an I-186A Contract between Sponsor and Household Member form. This form basically states that you are both responsible if your spouse becomes a ward of the state. The joint sponsor has to be someone related to you, you can't just get a stranger off the street. The household member has to attach copies of their three most recent Federal Tax Forms and their W2s. Make copies.

17. The citizen has to provide evidence of a domicile in America. We used my parent's house, because we didn't have housing secured by the time we applied for the visa. As I said above, bank records, state or city tax returns will work for this.Make copies.

18. Vaccinations. Your spouse should try to get a list of vaccinations they received as a child, it helps a lot. There is a list of vaccines required. If you don't have some of them, you should go to your local doctor and get them. If it's advised that your shouldn't (maybe it's only for children) make sure your doctor writes that in an official report (Korean is okay). Getting your vaccinations at a local doctor is much cheaper than getting them at the medical check.

19. Here's the important thing! The medical check! Your spouse has to get a medical check from one of the approved doctors on the doctor list you get with your Packet 3. The spouse will get a medical check, and a chest x-ray. The medical check is valid for one year BUT the x-ray is only valid for 6 months. Why does that matter? Because your visa is only valid for as long as your medical check it. Thus my suggestion above not to make your appointment any more than 6 months before you leave. If you get your medical check On January 1st, your visa to get into America is only valid until June 1st, which means you have to be in America before June 1st. They don't ever really make that clear. Two more things: 1) It's going to be about 170,000 Korean Won 2) You have to go back twice, because they will not issue you the x-ray on the same day. No idea why, seems completely illogical, but that's how it works.

20. Make your final appointment, and make it early. I think the earliest appointment is 8am. Get there at 7:30am. The earlier you get in, the quicker you will get out. We got there 15 minutes before our appointment time, and it still took 4 hours (3.5 of which was simply waiting). Bring all your documents, and get them checked out at the window. Make sure there are not problems. Wait for a REALLY LONG TIME before they call your spouse up to the window (without you) to ask them questions about your marriage. That part takes about 3 minutes, more if you get a talker.Don't forget to pay your fees one more time! Another $500 should cover it!

21. Hey guess what, that's it! Once you're all done, they should have your passport and visa back to you within a week!

22. Keep your chest x-ray, you may need it at your port of entry.

23. Speaking of port of entry, it helps if you come together, but if you cant it's still okay.

**This post is merely supposed to be instructional based on information I wish I had known when we filed for our visa. It's also only applicable to South Korea (although I assume the process is similar in other countries). Please don't use this as your only information on the Visa application process.

Here are some helpful links

U.S. Embassy Seoul Immigrant Visa Process
U.S. Citizen and Immigration Service Forms
U.S. Dept of State Immigrant Visa information
U.S. Embassy Seoul Packet 3 Instructions
Medical Check Approved Doctors

So I do this thing where I start writing a blog about something that occurs over a multitude of days, then I get bored halfway through and stop writing about it. As you noticed before, I wrote up some lengthy pieces about EPIK training, but now I'm bored, and it's over, so I'm just going to summarize the last few days.

Day 4 -  same as the other days, lots of classes, decent cafeteria food, last Korean class. There was one final lecture from a goofy dude that gave about 10 minutes of valuable information in a 90 minute lecture. About half the audience was alseep.
Day 5 - lesson plan presentation went okay, I didn't pay attention to most of them, just long enough to take notes. Our lesson was reviewed as going well, which was great. Then we went to the folk village to do some Korean stuff. Our group made tofu and scarecrows. Paul and I made our scarecrow look like a Russian prostitute and called her Slutania. As you can see, I have really matured a lot since coming to Korea. Then we went on a hike. I got bus sick on the way back, the last need was decent, then we went and got drunk before the talent show. We all had to do the Cha Cha Slide in front of everyone in a boiling hot auditorium, but it went okay, no major screw ups. Then our last night out, but I was so exhausted I was in bed by 12:30am.
Day 6 - Closing ceremony. We were excited about going to COSTCO after everything was over, but where then informed that we were not allowed to go, and we all had to go on the bus home together. We were angry. We wanted cheese, and we were angry. I couldn't sleep the whole ride which was annoying. Paul and I were really happy when we got back to Jinju, especially because spring had come while we were gone.

the end.

Another day of getting up at 7am. But at least it's a Monday, and I'm used to getting up at 7am on Mondays. Breakfast was nothing special. I feel like they try to make it foreign for us, but it's just a much of Korean-foreign food. I stuck with cereal and a fried egg.

First class of the day was Secondary Curriculum. This was pretty interesting, and it was taught by a Korean-America, and he English was perfect. She taught us why we teach the things we teach, and the general lay out of our books. We also learned about the process of high school and university, and the importance of testing for the Korean students. She was very helpful and we got to ask a lot of questions.

Next was Cultural Differences which was kind of interesting. Our lecturer looking like a squashed version of Mel Gibson. He taught us about the importance of saving face in Korea, and reading between the lines since Koreans want to save face and wont come out and tell you exactly what they mean. Also learned about drinking culture, and some stuff about taxes. It was interesting, but nothing special.

Our third class was a class about writing strategies. We learned a few good games, but again nothing important. I think Paul and i just played Scrabble the whole time. We did create a pretty awesome chain story though. Sitting by Paul is pretty entertaining because he has this negative, pessimistic, glass is half empty personality, and I really enjoy it.



Lunch was pretty good, chicken donkkasu, and I sat with some new people. One guy told an extremely exaggerated story about how he and 3 friends finished 44 bottles of soju in one night. I think that's pretty impossible, even for Koreans.

After lunch was a lesson about co-teachers. There are a few main type of co-teachers: the ghost who is never there, the sheep who will do whatever you ask, the old dog who is stubborn and wont do anything, the bulldozer who wants to do everything their way, and the genie who is amazing. i decided that my co-teachers are the ajuma type. They are nice and friendly, and they help control the class, but i know I can't depend on them to get involved in class room activities. It was interesting to learn about what kind of co-teacher everyone has and what kind they prefer.

Last class of the day was Using Technology in the Classroom. This presentation was GREAT. The guy showed us a lot of fun games he created using PowerPoint, and they were all really ingenious. I know my kids will love them. He also posted tutorials online of how to make the games. I'm definitely going to start using some of these games with my students.

So far after two days I've realized quite a few things I want to change about my class. First, I need to be able to manage my own class. Usually my co-teacher quiets them down, but they get right back up when she leaves. I want to make sure they respect me as a teacher, and don't just see me as the fun foreigner and not care about my class. I also want to incorporate more PowerPoint learning strategies in my class, instead of relying solely on the boring book. I also want my students to use their imagination more. In stead of having them read directly from the book, I am going to encourage them to memorize and ad-lib the dialogue parts. Another thing is taking notes in class. I would like to have the students bring their own "Colleen's English Class" notebook to take notes it. I would like to get more involved in the grading process, find out what percentage of my class goes into their grade, maybe make some questions for their exams. I also got the great idea to make my own video dialogues, maybe with Daniel, that the kids can listen to. I would really like to incorporate projects into the class as well, but I'm not sure if we'll have time.One teacher Skyped with parents during a class, and had the students ask questions. I thought that would also be a cool thing to do, ya mom?

First thing I need to do though is talk to my first graders. I learned that English is not mandatory in elementary school, and the reason some of my students speak English is because their parents can pay to go to a private school. So I defs need to talk to them and figure out who has studied English before and who hasn't.

These days are really long, I start at 8:45am and finish at 8pm. By the end of the day I'm pretty worn out, and we also have a group project to work on. It's a lot of stuff rolled into this conference, but I'm learning a lot of valuable information. 

An early start, my roommate and I got up around 6:45am, on a Sunday! Wasn't too happy about that. breakfast was 7:30am-8:30am, so we got there rather earlier. I also managed to steal some bananas for snacks later. We had 5 classes throughout the day, each about an hour and ten minutes. The topics were interesting enough to keep me entertained.

First we talked about lesson plans, why we make them and what purpose they serve. We were assigned groups earlier, and we have to give a mock class in front of other people, so we used this time to brainstorm about our lesson plan.

The next session was about project based learning, which I found really interesting, but I can't really do in my class. I realized that there is an extremely wide range of teaching responsibilities throughout different schools. Some teachers have to make daily lesson plans and not deviate from them, while some don't do them at all. Some have to follow the books and only the books, while others aren't even given a book, some co-teachers are a big help in the classroom while some sit in the back and do nothing. So these presentations were a bit difficult, because they don't fit for everyone. In my case, I could maybe use a few ideas, and adapt them, but others couldn't use the information at all. Anyway, the project based learning was about have the students be at the center, and working together to create an idea, and it's their responsibility to follow through with the project and to educate themselves further.

Next class was about different intelligences, such as bodily-kinaesthetics, linguistic, musical, inter/intrapersonal. The lecturer then had us go through a series of activities and games and play them ourselves, then talk about what intelligence they teach. i got some really good ideas of activities to do in class, plus we all added bits to improve them in certain situations.

After that it was a much needed lunch break at 1:10pm. I basically scarfed my lunch down and left. I had an hour until class so I went for a walk and found a shop to buy some fruit. I went back to the dorm for a little before returning to class at 2:30pm. We had a class about Classroom Management, which had some interesting aspects, but I feel like the lecturer went off on a few too many tangents. He was a nice enough guy though, tried to preach a little Jesus love on us, which I wasn't too found of, but he was entertaining.

The last class of the day was about elementary school curriculum. I found out that some elementary schools don't teach English to their students at all, which would explain why many of my new first grade students can't do anything in class. Again, the lesson had a few high lights, and it gave me some good ideas for the classroom, but it was geared for elementary school. I believe the course on middle school will be tomorrow.

So all that's left for the day is the Korean class I have in 20 minutes. All in all the first day was good. By the end I get a little restless and bored, but that's because  I haven't had six hours of lectures a day since I was in college.

The public school system in Korean has a specific program called EPIK, English Program In Korea. And a few times a year they host big conferences/training sessions for the foreign teachers at public school. This includes elementary, middle, and high school. While in reality, people should participate in this when they first arrive to Korea, giving different hiring times, it's pretty impossible. Since this is my first year teaching at a public school, I had to attend the EPIK training. In fact, so did many other people who have already been to an EPIK conference. But, there were many people you didn't have to go. So we're not really sure what the standard is for the requirement to go, but since it's my first year that's why I'm here.

The conference is 6 days long in Daejon, and those six days include a Saturday and a Sunday unfortunately. I didn't really mind. It's one weekend out of the hundreds I have in my lifetime, plus I know it's hard to pack so much stuff only into Mon-Fri. So the day started by meeting at a middle school by my house. I met a few people there, one guy from my building was there, and another couple that play soccer with Daniel. We boarded a bus and headed for Daejon around 9:30am. For the most part the ride was uneventful. They were showing coverage of the one-year anniversary of the Cheon Ahn sinking on the TV and it was quite sad. There were some annoying people on the bus, including a 60 year old man who referred to himself as "Santa" he was constantly giving the Korean teacher shit, and just basically wouldn't shut the fuck up. I'm sorry about the language, but annoying people really irk me. I took my head phones out for about 10 minutes and decided that was a bad idea.

We got to Daejon late, and we also had to pick up people from another bus that broke down. Again, Santa went on a little tirade because the bus driver got a little lost. We were supposed to have arrived at 11:30am, but in fact got there at nearly 1pm. We had to rush to eat lunch, which was less than satisfactory. We were then shuttled to our dorms. Yes, you heard me, I said dorms. I'm under the firm belief that once you reach a certain age, you should never have to have a roommate. Anyway, we got our keys and dropped our bags off, then headed to the class we were already late for. The classes were ordered by where in Korea we came from, so all the people from my group were from the Gyeongnam and Busan area for the most part.

After a brief introduction about the conference and the classes, we went over the the large auditorium for the opening ceremonies. First we got to watch a gayageum performance which was interesting. I was sitting by Paul, the guy from my apartment building, and he was basically asleep the whole time. Then we watched a dance performance called a Sogo Chum, and finally a musical performance called the Samulnori. We then got to hear a lecture about Korean culture from a man whose English was amazingly good. He had a great presentation and he was really funny as well, which is a weird combination for Korean people.

After the opening ceremony we had dinner in the cafeteria, which was much better than the lunch earlier. We had a break afterward, and then went to Korean language class. I asked to be put in intermediate, but it was boringly easy, so I asked to switch after class was over. Korean class ended at 8pm, and there was a voluntary movie afterward, but a bunch of us decided to go out for a drink instead. We have a curfew of midnight, based on prior occurrences of belligerent idiots getting drunk and messing around. So we couldn't stay out long, but we found a foreigner bar down town and got in a few beers and a few round of pool. Paul and I teamed up and kicked some major pool table ass. We also picked up a hotdog on the way out before going back. We got home around 11:30pm, and we were all pretty dead tired. 

Apparently at public schools around Jinju, the teachers play volleyball together every Wednesday. My co-teacher, Mrs. Choi, told me that volleyball is chosen because both men and women can play it equally. I was invited to play, but there was no way I was about to embarrass myself in fron of all these teachers by attempting a hands-on sport. If I didn't mention before, teachers at public schools have to rotate every 5 years, so we recently got a new batch of teachers, most of which participated. I was allowed to watch and be one of the referees. It was quite funny. The women weren't very good, and only a few men were (the P.E. teacher, big surprise). It wasn't a particularly competitive game, the teachers just do it for fun. They also all get in a good laugh when someone tries to kick the ball, or someone falls in a funny manner. So all in all it was quite enjoyable. 

This semester though I have extra credit class every Wednesday, so I couldn't participate if I wanted. That's a little sad because I'm sure I would have eventually grown balls big enough to play.

As I mentioned, we got about 8 new teachers (including one office worker, Insu, and an intern, Hye Jin). Yesterday we had our official welcoming party. We went to a Korean seafood restaurant that serves raw fish. It's not quite like sushi, most of the fish that was serves was pale white, and some still had the skin on it. There were tons of side dishes also, like fried soft, shelled crab, salads with unknown seafood creatures, I think some mini snail. I was sat at a table with some older women who can't speak any English, which kinda of sucked at the beginning. There was one male teacher who speaks a little, so mostly I was quite. 

Some of the new teachers were asked to stand up and give a toast, so you can imagine there was a lot of drinking going on. Eventually people started moving around, visiting other people. The P.E. teacher came over and kept talking to me even though he knew I couldn't understand him. He also made me drink a lot of beer. I tried to say a few things in Korea, and I guess I got some of it right because they all laughed when I tried to make a joke. The new science teacher also came over. He sounds like he has laryngitis and his voice is very raspy. He found out that I was married, after which I received the most commonly asked question in Korea, "when will you have babies?" Koreans are really blunt about asking this. I told him I was too young, to which he got upset and started yelling at me. Not a bad yelling, but more that he was drunk and couldn't understand my choice not to have babies. He also talked about American baseball teams. I told him I lived near Seattle, and he started talking about the Mariners. Then he said he like the Yankees and I told him to go away.

Eventually Insu and Hyejin came over. Insu is the new office worker, and he's pretty cute but speaks no English. Hyejin is the new intern who is very nice and speaks some English. They both told me later that they had a lot to drink. I think in Korean society, when your elders offer you a drink you are required to drink it. Then the principal came over, and his English is pretty bad but he insists on talking to me in English. He was saying something about the bad quality of Korean water, and the beer in Germany, and street festivals in Brazil. I really had no idea. By the end of the two hours I was a little tipsy, but definitely not as bad off as some of the others, especially the principle. 

All in all it was a great Wednesday, I got to laugh at the teachers who sucked at basketball, and got to know some of them (vaguely) better.

So last year when I lived in Seoul, I lived near a community center and I was able to take really cheap Tae Bo classes for like $35 a month. Unfortunately now in Jinju, there is only on gym near me, and it's $90 a month! And the facilities aren't even that great. But luckily for me, I've found this great new work out program that get's you upwards of an hour at a time, for only two dollars! Two dollars, you say? That's right, two dollars? But how does it work? Well, Jimmy, I'll tell you. 

I call it the Jinju Bus Work out. See, in Jinju, the bus drivers drive like madmen. So all you have to do is pay to get on a bus, and get ready for your workout! Obviously you'll get no exercise while sitting down, so you really need to be standing up for this. And the work out regime works particularly well if you choose a bus route that takes you both through the constant red lights of the city, and the twisty rural streets. For some reason Jinju Bus drivers are always in an extreme hurry, which means they drive really fast. And when you drive fast, you also have to brake fast! While standing on the bus not only will you get to exercise your arms from trying to hold on for dear life, but you also work on your core muscles and your balance and the rollercoaster on wheels tries to throw you around the bus. For a more intense workout, you can use one of the dangling handles as opposed to the firm bars. This way you have to use those arm muscles even more to keep yourself stable.

To increase that leg strength try squatting a little, or balancing on one leg. This is great for the windy rural roads where the buses nearly tip over from taking the turns to sharply, and also from the high lift you get as you barrel over those speed bumps! And to work on the balance even more, try brining on a cup of scalding coffee! That will get you going in the morning. 

I particularly like Bus 50, because it takes you really far into the farmlands, well past my middle school. You also get the experience the stop and go of downtown as well. And like a said, it's only two dollars for each work out, a dollar one way and a dollar back! There you have it folks, my 1 hour, full body Jinju Bus Workout!

Working in a public school, every foreign teacher has at least one co-teacher. This is the Korean staff member whose English is usually the best, and also teach English to the students. Their job is to be in the classroom with you and make sure everything goes smoothly. At first I was nervous about having a co-teacher (I actually have two, Mrs. Choi and Mrs. Lee) in the classroom because I thought their job was to make sure I was doing by job right. That's a little intimidating right? Having someone watch your every move to make sure you don't mess up? I've heard stories from my friend Chris about his co-teacher, and how they didn't get along and she made his life hell. So I think I had a right to be a little nervous about it.

But in reality, after the first few awkward days of me getting used to the classes, and Mrs. Choi and Mrs. Lee giving me advice about the students, it's not bad at all. Sometimes, when Korean give you advice, it sounds like they are being condescending or demanding, but it's just their tone, they are in fact trying to be helpful. I think after they both saw that I was a competent teacher, they let me just do my thing. Most of the time they aren't even in the class room, especially days where I am playing a game or doing a random lesson, they know they don't really need to be there.

And here is the great thing about them: I have two classes that are rambunctious and obnoxious, and those co-teachers and quiet them like nobodies business. Usually all it takes is one of them to walk through the door, and a hush falls over the class. Do you know why? Because they put the fear in these children, the fear of punishment! Although corporal punishment is illegal (recently) in Korea, many teachers are still allowed to give kids a few knocks. They have this bamboo stick with a slit in the middle, and students who don't do their homework get a smack on the hand. Or sometimes if the student is late, they have to sit out in the cold hallway, on their knees without moving, for an hour. Or sometimes they have to do up-downs like we do in sports. Those are the general tactics (even though kids still don't do their homework, or are mouthy in class!). But if you catch Mrs. Choi on a bad day, and she sneaks into class and finds a student sleeping, or not paying attention, you better watch out.

I know this probably sounds cruel of me, but these kids are definitely old enough and smart enough to know how to pay attention in class, and some of them deserve the wrath of the co-teacher. There's a little bit of satisfaction when Mrs. Lee gives a kid a smack on the back for not paying attention, when I told that little brat 5 times to be quiet and listen. Now don't get me wrong, it's not like these little ladies are coming in and beating the crap out of these students, it's more like a hard slap you would give a friend when you're messing around, or would give a dog when they pee on the carpet, enough to straighten you up but not enough to actually bruise you. These kids are older and can definitely handle it.

Mrs. Choi (I've started calling her "the thunder") even did something today that I don't understand. She came in at the end of class when we were finished, said one word, and they all closed their eyes and sat up straight. She was talking to them for a few minutes about something, but I doubt se was asking them to use their imagination. 

I really wish I had the power to control my students like that, to make them be silent with one fell shout! But alas, I am the foreigner, and I can never hold such powers without getting arrested.

So I have not posted anything here recently, because I haven' been doing much recently. From about Christmas time until the second week in January I was teaching Winter Camp at my schools. It was basically 3 or 4 hours a day of games with some education thrown in. Some classes (the 2nd graders) were way better than other classes (the 1st graders), but overall it was a pleasant experience. About a week before my scheduled two week vacation, I decided it would not be all that great to sit around the house for two weeks watching TV and knitting. And since I really am one of those people that "spur of the moment" applies to, I decided to go somewhere.

Living in Korea, you're basic choices of cheap air travel are China or Japan, and since Japan is so much more expensive than China, I went with China. I had to pay an exorbitant amount of money for my visa to China, simply because I'm American and the Chinese government ain't too fond of us. But I did get a good deal on the flight, 10 days with arrival in Beijing and departure out of Shanghai for about $320. Could have been cheaper if I booked ahead, but I didn't, so oh well.

Day 1
I left Jinju on Tuesday after an extremely frustrating experience with the gentleman at the travel agency who was handling my visa. If you ever have the inclination to use World Travel to help you with anything, you might as well go shove your head in a toilet. Anyway, my flight out was at noon on Wednesday, which means I don't have to get up too early, but I also get a good amount of day in Beijing. The airport was a breeze, out of the bus and to my gate in about 20 minutes. And about 15 minutes of that happened after security. The flight was short, only 2 hours, and we got a meal. That's something completely unheard of in the American flying experience. A full meal while only traveling 2 hours? Preposterous! I also had no one sitting next to me, and I was in the first row behind First Class, which meant prime spot in the Immigration line when I got off the plane.

The only luggage I brought with my was Daniel's backpack, which it like a normal sized backpack. I really didn't want to lug around a big suitcase, so I packed light and figured I would use the washing facilities at the hostels I stayed at. I took a taxi to my hostel that  a friend Alex stayed at and recommended. It was a little pricey for a hostel in China (about $10 a night), but it was a good place. I dropped off my stuff quickly, and got a map to walk around. Let me tell you, maps in Beijing can be very deceiving. My hostel was located (what I thought) relatively near the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square, so I decided to walk there. Also, the map's proportions were grossly under-exaggerated. It took me quiet a while to walk down there, but I did pass through Wangfujing Street, which is a very popular shopping area. I stopped at a roast duck restaurant I saw and got the traditional Peking Duck. It was quite good, I must say. The restaurant staff was a little unfriendly and neglectful, so I couldn't order a drink.

After my meal I walked down to the Forbidden City in time to have the streets closed off for the flag lowering (which they do every day). I didn't mention it before, but Beijing was really, really, REALLY cold. Definitely below freezing. I brought a pair of leggings to wear under my pants, but it didn't seem to help. So waiting for the flag lowering was a bit painful. I then decided to walk around the outside of the Forbidden City, and walk back to the hostel. Again, misleading maps, and I was out walking around for more than an hour after dark before I could finally land a taxi.

The hostel that was staying at was nice, and they had their own little cafe with good food. The beds were also really comfortable. The rooms were pretty cold though. Even with the heater on full blast, I had to keep my extremities in the covers al night. I went to bed pretty early because I as exhausted.

Day 2
I got up early with plans of seeing many things. However, the temperatures outside quickly diminished that possibility. I went to the Temple of Heaven Park and walked around a little, saw the temple. There were lots of people in the park playing games like Chinese hacky sack, badminton, tennis. There were also big groups who were having dance classes, sword fighting lessons, Tai chi. it was pretty interesting, but I don't know how they weren't freezing. 

Then I went to the Beijing Train Station to try to get my ticket to Shanghai, it was immensely crowded though! Like, a thousand people all lining up to get their tickets. I guess I under estimated how busy it would be two weeks before Chinese New Year. Back at the hostel though I was given direction to a travel agent and they got the tick for me. It was the mot expensive part of my whole trip (660, $96). I then found my way to a restaurant, but it wasn't open yet, so I wandered down a nearby hutong. A hutong is the ancient buildings that many Chinese people used to live in. Some areas are still houses, but in this area, the insides were renovated into shops, bars and cafes. It was quite nice. I popped into a few shops, even found a place that sold handmade leather bound journals for pennies!

I walked back to the restaurant after a while and got some good dumplings and gluttonous rice with beef, then back to the hostel. I decided to take it chill from then on, I was tiring myself out too early. I decided to go over to Tiananmen Square to check that area out. I planned to see the flag lowering from that side, but this time I overestimated how long it would take to look at the place, and finished quite early. In the square there is Mao Zedong's memorial hall where you can go see his decaying body. There's also a few monuments, and two long screens showing videos about how great China is. Since I finished looking around, I walled back to Wangfujing Street. I found the snack street that is really famous and took a stroll down there. The Chinese like to put fruit on a stick, and cover it with a light glaze of sugar that hardens up. I got myself a nice big stick of candied strawberries witch was delicious but hard to eat. They also had strange meat for sale, bugs on sticks, roasted pigeons, lizards, tarantulas, scorpions, all sorts of weird things. I played it safe and got some fried tofu. 

Day 3
This was the day I got really frustrated with my guide book. There was a shop I really wanted to go to, so I went to a  nearby park (Ritan Park) to look around first, then searched aimlessly for this shop that I could not find. After the frustration I took a taxi to a nearby sushi restaurant and got a pretty decent lunch set. I was sat in a corner by myself though, so I felt kinda lonely.

Then I made my way back to the Forbidden City. I was stopped by an art student who asked me took look at her school's art exhibit, which I did. I thought it was going to be a scam, but it wasn't. The girl was really nice, explained the meaning behind some of the art work, write my name in calligraphy, and thanked me for my time. There were quite a few really interesting pieces, so I did buy one lacquered piece that she made. The she showed me how to get to the Forbidden City, and warned me about all the scams like the rickshaws and the tea ceremonies. She really put me in a good mood with her friendliness.

I went into the Forbidden City in the late afternoon, about 2 hours before it closed. My feet were hurting something fierce! I walked in and looked around a little. I didn't think it was that big. That was until I passed the 3 building. Once you get past there you can see into the whole of the city. It was immense. Like, immensely immense. There were just buildings everywhere, as far as the eye can see. I think I read that there are 9000 rooms in the whole place. The sight of it made my feet hurt even more. I knew there was no way I could traverse the whole area, so I took a side route, walked around some more, and found my way out. I was probably in there for about an hour though.

On the way back to the hostel I found a place in my guidebook called Dragonfly Massage. Boy, was this place great. I got an oriental foot massage, and a full body Chinese massage (2 hours) for about $40! The rooms ere darkly lit, and smelled great, with nice music playing. It was sooooo relaxing. 

Day 4
I went to Beihai Park on this day, which is just next to the Forbidden City. It's a huge park, with an island in the middle with a huge pagoda on a big hill. I walked around the island for a little. There were people on the frozen lake riding some sort of ice-bikes and having fun. I made my way up a set of huge stairs to the top were the pagoda was (and of course i had to pay to see it. You have to pay to see most things in China.) The views from the top were great. I could even see into part of the Forbidden City. I made my way down and out of the park. I was heading for a specific restaurant nearby, which again, the map showed as not being far, but in face was very far. I eventually made it though. It was a nice place called Le Petite Saigon, which was a mix of French and Vietnamese food. I intended to get Ph, but then I saw a beef stew that looked great so I got that, even though it was more expensive. I should have stuck with the pho, because the stew was very disappointing. It was a wine based soup, but it had a lot of oil, and the pieces of beef were too bug, an I couldn’t cut them with my spoon.

After the lunch I took a subway to the Lama Temple. On the way in there were tons of vendors selling what I though were sparklers. I guessed it was for the new years. When I got into the temple though I learned that they were incense, which you like to pay homage to the Buddha in the temples. The Lama Temple was a great place, I always really like Buddhist temples. There were a few large buildings with Buddha statues inside, and people were lighting their incense and paying their respects, making prayers. The whole place was thick with the incense smoke, but I quite liked the smell. In one of the last building was this humongous Buddha stature that was apparently carved out of one whole piece of Sandalwood. It was about 18 meters tall, reached all the way to the top of the four-story building it was in.

When I got back to the hostel, I tried to get some food, but the kitchen was closed. So I took my map and found a restaurant close to a subway. It turned out to be a great place. It looked really fancy, but the dishes were pretty cheap. There was a lo of strange stuff on the menu, like black turtle, donkey meat, suckling pigeon. I got an order of these duck rolls (3 pieces), which had the minced meat wrapped up in some sort of puff pastry and served with strawberry jam, and I got a tofu dish that came with peas, carrots, mushrooms, and ham, all cut up into small pieces with a think sauce, and also a large jug of a plum herbal tea. All this for was 90 ($12). I went home after that, and realized that I was getting sick. Just in time for my trip to The Wall, yay! I had a terrible night's sleep because I couldn't breathe through my nose and I had a sore throat. 

Day 5
Today I woke up bright an early, ready to go to The Great Wall of China! I booked a tour that would take us to an area of the wall called Mutianyu, give us about 2 hours there, get lunch, and then go to the Ming Tombs, it was about 320 ($48). I got in a van with some other people in introduced myself. There was a couple from Brazil, an older woman from Germany, and some college-aged people from Australia. It took about an hour to get to the wall. We split up into two groups, because there were different ways to get up to the wall. My group (the Brazilians and the German woman) took a ski lift up to Tower 6, while the others took a lift up to Tower 14. 

We decided to walk to Tower 5 on the right, which was really steep. It was hard to get up there. We all came prepared for the cold, but got quite hot hiking up. Some of the steps took a lot of effort to get up. We wound up going all the way to Tower 4, and got some great pictures. You could see our part of the wall, and off in the distance ere other towers from a different part, scattered along the ridge of the mountains. The trip up and down from Tower 4 took about an hour. We then walked along a much easier part, making it all the way to Tower 12. Here was a little hilly, and some parts were a bit touch to climb, but not as hard as the first part. It was really beautiful, and the sky was bright blue, which made the pictures even better. At one point we saw a donkey on the wall! I don't know how the hell it got up there.

We made our way down by taking a toboggan ride! It was kind of fun, but the cart was a little hard to control, the lever to go faster was hard to push. But it was an experience. Not many people can say they've taken a toboggan down from the Great Wall of China. We stopped for lunch at a restaurant on the way out. The food was okay, but there wasn’t enough for 10 people, and I think most of us were still hungry
 
S Next we headed for the Ming Tombs. This is the area where the 13 emperors of the Ming Dynasty were buried. Only three have been excavated, and only one has the actual tomb excavated. We went to that one, it's called Dingling. Our tour guide was great and told us all about the tombs. We got to go into the underground tomb and see where the Emperor was buried. It took about another hour to get back after that. I was starving by then, so I ordered food from the cafe and scarfed it down. I was pretty sick by this point, and I'm sure that being out in the cold all day, workin' the lungs, didn't help.

Day 6
This was the day I took the train to Shanghai, but I didn't need to be to the train station until 8:45pm. So I thought I would make today a museum day, try to keep myself inside since I was sick. Ya, that didn't work out. Some of them I couldn't find (damned guidebook), some of them were closed on Mondays, and the National Museum still isn't open from it's renovation. So I was angry, and cold, and getting hungry. I decided to give up my efforts to educate myself, and went and got lunch. The guidebook had a roast duck restaurant in there that I decided to go to. It was very posh, and there were quite a few people in there on a Monday afternoon. I got the roast duck again. I think the meat at the first restaurant was better, but here you got more toppings for your pancakes, you also got a bigger bowl of soup, some black sesame dessert, and a fruit platter. And al this was only a dollar or two more expensive than the first place. So overall it was very good, I was stuffed to the max.

So I still had a few hours before I needed to leave, therefore I headed back to the hostel to read. Before I left I put a bunch of ebooks on my iPod to fill the time. So I stuck around for a while, got some more grub, then headed off early. I had no idea what to expect from the train station, so I wanted to make sure I had enough time. I was heading out of Beijing South Train Station. When I got there on the subway I was pretty confused about where to go. I eventually found some guys who spoke a little English and they helped me out. I basically sat in this big are of seats, near my gate, and waited until boarding. We actually boarded 1 hour before departure, which i thought was strange. First I went to the wrong car, which i found out after a Chinese woman started hassling me. When I got to my won car I found I was on the top bunk, something I didn't want. By then I was pretty sick, and I must have had a fever because I was boiling hot. I basically crawled up into my bed and tried to sleep. The bed wasn't that comfortable, and it was on a train, so you can imagine how well I slept.

More to come later on Shangai