VIP has landed in Beijing!

Soooo, who might this VIP person be? Yao Ming?? Jackie Chan? Justin Bieber?!  Nope! None of the above.  I am happy to say my sister Kristin has finally joined me in Beijing!  She will be staying with me from now until we leave together to head back to the states on January 20th.  She just got here on the 28th but we've done a lot already! (especially the eating part haha)  And she brought two whole loaves of delicious banana bread!!! (THANK YOU MOM <3)  I was sooo happy.  I'm already halfway through the second loaf and Kristin has only been here two days lol.  Well anyways, I have a lot of fun things planned for her like the Great Wall, Nanluoguxiang, and the Forbidden city just to name a few and an even longer food list ;)  Since Kristin is here... I thought it might be interesting to have her perspective on China so far.  So on that note, my guest blogger today will be Kristin! Take it away sis :)

Well, this is weird I've never been on a blog before. Hmm well first thoughts when I saw Beijing was that there was a lot of fog, but then realized it was all pollution...oops. It's a little dirtier then I had originally expected and I'm definitely not a fan of the squatting toilet. Ew. Otherwise, it has definitely been an experience so far. I go to bed every night fully stuffed by all the amazing food here. I had actual bubble tea for the first time last night and that was freakin amazing, so I'm probably going to have a few more of those :p I should just start keeping track. We went to the silk market yesterday and I realized that Jennifer is a boss at bargaining. She literally dropped the price down from 380 to 65 RMB on a wallet I wanted. Now, how long will that wallet last me who knows, but it's so cute! Then today we went to a cafe that had some amazing cakes and some really comfy chairs as well :) I've done so many things in only two days, which makes me even more excited for all the other things that we are going to do here! Also a very off, side note: I saw multiple asians wearing platform shoes! All I can say is sign me up!

Ho Ho Ho! Merrrry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!!! from China everyone!  It's my first time being away from home for the holidays =/  Annddd, I had a final today... oh, China. While I've loved my semester abroad, it's during this time that I've had the hardest time being away from family and friends.  BUT!  I'm so grateful that I have found some great friends here to spend my holidays with. =) I've been able to do Secret Santa, make Christmas cookies, watch Home Alone, and have a nice Christmas dinner!

In the spirit of Christmas, a couple friends and I decided to make Christmas cookies!  How can we make cookies if we don't have an oven you may ask?? Well, a microwave of course! :P  So we got all the ingredients for making cookies... and was kind of successful!  They were somewhat soft right after microwaving, but they turned hard really fast afterwards.  Nonetheless, it still made me very happy to at least a little "baking."  And we watched Home Alone!  Definitely not a real Christmas unless we watch that movie.

The ingredients

Mix, mix, mix

Final product

For Christmas day, my friends and I went to a really nice restaurant called Vineyard Cafe for dinner.  They had reallllly delicious food!  While I've gotten used to eating Chinese food every day, it was nice getting to go somewhere and eat tasty not Chinese food haha.  I got a vegetable pesto dish.  SO YUMMYYY.  I've been craving pesto for a while too.  

It was nice to take a break from all the tests and studying and enjoy some good quality time with friends.  Very much needed =)  Sadly, I still have a final tomorrow, so back to studying for me! To all of you back home... I MISS YOU and I wish you a very Merry Christmas! =)

Bringing the Christmas cheer to Beijing

Can you guys believe it's already December??  Time just keeps on flying by.  It is getting prettttyy cold in Beijing now.  My friends and I went out this past Saturday and we were outside all day walking around Beijing.  I have never been so cold in Beijing as I was that day.  It was a mix of not wearing enough and also that the events we went to were outside.  But more on that later...

Out of all the holidays, Christmas is by far my favorite.  Something about the feeling in the air with all the Christmas songs, the Christmas spirit, the snow... I love it!  Except, all of that is almost non-existent here in Beijing.  I saw a bit of Christmas stuff in Shanghai, but Christmas is definitely not a big thing in Beijing.  My friends and I decided to change that!  We ordered a Christmas tree and ornaments online from a Chinese website called Taobao and set it up in the dorm while singing along to Christmas music of course.  It put me in the mood to watch Home Alone haha.  I love that movie!

Pre-decoration

Decoration in progress

Final product =D

This past Saturday, my friend Crystal also found some Christmas related celebrations happening around Beijing so we went around Beijing to check them out.  The first stop was the German embassy.  They had set up multiple booths outside the embassy that sold different types of holiday food and drinks and also small holiday trinkets.  It was pretty cool getting to see how a different country celebrates Christmas.  Lots of sausage type things, wine, cider, and yummy looking pastries!

Outside the German embassy

The pastries! yummy!

Tons of people inside avoiding the cold outside

After the German embassy, we made our way to the Hilton hotel near Sanlitun because we heard they had a Christmas tree lighting ceremony.  When we first got here it seemed a little dead, but after a while a lot of people started showing up and they had a mini show.  They had set up a hugeeee Christmas tree in the lobby area that they lit up at the end of the show.  They also handed out free hot chocolate, mulled wine, and Christmas cookies! My friends and I definitely took advantage of those haha.  Being there was definitely the most Christmasy feeling I've had so far in Beijing, and it made me really happy =)

Enjoying our hot cocoa and wine

The tree lit up at the end of the ceremony

So, back in the states, I never really ordered in as food was always pretty close to my apartment and delivery fees are annoying.  However, in China that is not the case! My friends and I have been going through an ordering in craze lately =P  It's nice especially if we're sick of the dorm food and it's too cold to go out and get something off campus.  It's not too expensive either and delivery is free over a certain price, which is a nice plus.  Most of the stuff I've ordered in has been delicious as well!

Fried chicken set from a Korean restaurant

Delicious Katsudon