OCTOBER 24

Today is one of the most important days that we've spent and will spend in recent and coming years. October 24 symbolizes over 150 countries coming together to tell our leaders that we want something great to come out of the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this December.

The International Day of Climate Action was organized by 350.org. Please please please check it out and do something today. It doesn't matter how big or small it is, doing something is what matters.

As for me, I visited Fenfa Primary School for the children of migrant workers living in Shanghai to teach the kids about environmentalism.


Climate change is real, and it's a big deal. If we don't do something about it right now, it's not going to be good (read: it's going to get much much worse).

The Perfect Day

High points of the morning: passed the physical for my visa extension, had McDonald's breakfast for the first time in a month, did well on my Chinese midterm.

After the test, I went grocery shopping at Carrefour, where I spent lest that 30 USD on all the ingredients (plus some) for a really good American meal. I wouldn't have spent over 100 RMB, but a stick of butter is almost $5 and a pack of cheese is over $7. Oh well, it was worth.

So tonight, I cooked American food for my host parents. I worked with what I had (which didn't include an oven), and it turned out pretty well.


Me teaching Aunt Pan how to cook American style.


A true American meal: Chicken with cheese and mushroom sauce; sauteed zucchini, tomato and onion; potato cakes and Budweiser. Mmmm...


At least they liked it :) I did, too...makes me miss home a little bit more, but as Momma reminded me today: 56 days until I get back to 美国!

After dinner, we all sat down and watched House of Flying Daggers, one of my favorite movies ever made. Bravo Zhang Yimo. And Zhang Zi-Yi, if you're reading this, I'm single.

Now, I'm drinking warm milk with honey (this host family is perfect, in case you were asking), and I'm about to hit the sack a little early.

On a side note, please be proactive on October 24. I won't go into the details about what 350 means because you can read it here on 350.org's website. Climate change is real, and the time has passed where we can sit around and watch people make a difference on the news. Even if it means going out and picking up trash around the road in front of your house, or buying a recycling bin (and using it!), October 24 needs to mean something.

Post-Mongolia

So, the week after going to Inner Mongolia was pretty uneventful. A week of class (with a surprise class on Friday hmph), the usual daily quizzes, etc. The end of the week, though, has been really fun. Last night, we went out to celebrate my friend Minah's 22nd birthday. We ate at a great Italian restaurant called Otto, went to Glamour Bar (expensive and pretentious, not my choice), and then to Not Me. We had a really good time.



Today, I went with my host family to Qibao 七宝 District, or Seven Treasures District, which is about all that's left of "old Shanghai." It was really fun, and I finally got a picture with my host parents. :)




Democracy Road!



Finally, my host parents - Aunt Pan and Uncle Zhou (pronounced Joe)...

After Qibao, we met my host dad's brother at a pretty upscale restaurant in Jinshajiang Road's "nicest hotel." Delicious. I love my host family.

My host mom took some pictures at the restaurant because my camera was dead, so I'll try to post those later.

Qingdao and Hohhot!

The past week was one of the better vacations of meh life.

We left for on the 2nd for Qingdao, my favorite Chinese city. About 18 hours later, at 6:30 a.m., we arrived.

We went to the hostel first, dropped off our luggage and then went exploring around the Zhanqiao Pier area. We ate dumplings in Lu Xun Park, walked through the German district, and sun-bathed at Qingdao's Number 1 Bathing Beach, which as you can see from the picture below, I desperately needed. Then, we ate an awesome lunch at Qingdao's best Indian restaurant. It was good.







After lunch, we walked around town a little more, at dinner, and met my friend Chandler Zhang (张长建) and his girlfriend at May Fourth Square to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. It was really pretty; sadly, my camera has a hard time capturing night pictures.


The next day, we went to Jimo Road shopping district and then to the Tsingdao Beer Museum (青岛啤酒博物馆f), but tickets were RMB 50 a person, and we're all cheap students, so we walked a few blocks over to Qingdao's famous culture street. After being harassed by vendors trying to sell us fake Ming Dynasty jewelry (1311 AD? for RMB 20? No thanks) by screaming "Herro foreign friend! I make dis cheap for you!" we went back to Qingdao's pristine beaches.




That night, we went out to eat with my friend Chandler, his girlfriend, my other Chinese friend Winston Zheng (郑伟海), and two people we met in the hostel earlier that day. One of the really cool things about traveling internationally is all the different people and cultures that you get to know.


Nationalities: Korean, Chinese, French



Nationalities (l-r): Dutch, Chinese, American, British, American, Chinese

After dinner, we went to karaoke. It was a lot of fun. 一杯二锅头, OOHH..


The next morning, we got up and ate a late breakfast/early lunch at the Diner. We met up with my friend Armstrong Yang (杨航), who I'm working with now to start an environmental organization at Qingdao University (he's a masters candidate there majoring in environmental diplomacy).


After that, it was off to Hohhot, Inner Mongolia!

The 24 hour train ride wasn't nearly as bad as we were expecting. The countryside in Northern China is really beautiful and we found a lot of stuff to do to pass the time.



And we're in Hohhot! The capital city of Inner Mongolia (Semi-Autonomous Region) is surprisingly developed. There was really a mishmash of different cultures, and the influence of ethnic minorities in the region was a welcome change to the urban sterility of Shanghai.



This is eating lamb kabobs at a Xinjiang Uighur restaurant near our hostel. It was delicious.


The next day, we took a tour of the grasslands about two hours outside of Hohhot. We lived in a traditional Mongolian yurt, rode horse, eat Mongolian food, drank horse milk tea, and really learned a lot about a completely different culture.


This is the yurt we stayed in. It was really cold at night (28° Fahrenheit). Brr.


The grasslands of Inner Mongolia are beautiful, but the inhabitants are facing a lot of problems as climate change takes its toll on every corner of the world. One man told me that he remembers when the grass was lush and green for the better part of the year. Recently, however, less rain and an ever-expanding Gobi Dessert have definitely affected the farmers who live in there. He pointed to a lake that had dried up as he was telling me about some government policies implemented to combat erosion and desertification. A lot of Mongolians aren't allowed to raise goats and sheep anymore, which has been their livelihood - as well as their main food source - for centuries, if not millennia. When we ate dinner that night, I checked out their house. Most of the power they use is generated by a windmill and a small solar panel attached to the roof of their house. Hot water is also solar-generated. Rural Mongolians can do this, but we can't? I think it's time for us to step it up a little bit...





Summary of the trip (for those of you who want to look at the pictures and get a quick overview):

60+ hours on trains
hostels
a lot of foreigners
fun in Qingdao
fun in Inner Mongolia

Enjoy!

Matthew