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katie-vamos-a-china · 7 years
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Monday July 31- Turenscape Day 1
Today we went to class at Peking university. We had a lecture and honestly I could not tell you what I learned. It was somewhat interesting but I was so tired that paying attention was hard. And I was correcting the lecturer’s English on his powerpoint in my head which was a little distracting, and rude but I could not help it because I couldn’t focus. He talked a lot about different case studies in China in terms of stormwater management, and showed a lot of maps which was cool to see how they used GIS to relate ecosystem services and cultural places together, but it also didn’t make much sense.
After class we had lunch in one of the university’s dining hall’s, It was overwhelming there was so many people. It was like being in middle school looking for food and a table to sit at, avoiding people’s weird looks. It was not a good day because I was irritable and exhausted and felt very annoyed by eating Chinese food for some reason. I got 2 different types of fried rice which were okay but disappointing because they were cold. I wanted to get other food but we had nobody to help us figure out what food was what out of the 2 level food court. Essentially once our guide told us there was pig’s brains in the cafeteria I did not want to risk eating anything strange because I was not feeling adventurous. I think I am just getting tired of being in China in general. One cool thing about the universities in China though is that since they receive such large subsidies from the government on the campus everything is much cheaper. So like I got a sprite which was maybe $1, and the rice dishes I got were perhaps $2 total.
After lunch we walked to Turenscape which is a famous Landscape Architecture and Planning firm in China. Our guide showed us numerous pictures and described their famous projects which have won many international awards. It was very comforting because it made me realize that this is what I want to do and I am greatly looking forward to grad school because of it. Some of their projects they only had 4 months to complete and they were extremely large (like 20 hectares) or something like that. He described how for the most part they keep the landscape the same in time crunch projects like that and do their best to design around everything and utilize multifunctional benches, or whatever things they have to put into the project. So they had this “red ribbon” bench/boardwalk thing in this project that extended fairly far and in portions is used as a bench, planters and boardwalk. A lot of their projects also aimed at preserving the environment and ecosystem services, and even aimed to improve the environment rather than destroy it. Like they had a project in shanghai which used bioretention it seemed like to improve the water which contaminated and killed people and greatly improved the environment---just by putting in plants for filtration.
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katie-vamos-a-china · 7 years
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Tuesday July 25
First full day in Beijing
We started the day by taking the subway to class at Peking University. The subway is awful. Much dirtier, cramped and more confusing than the one in Taipei. Once we got to campus we had to show our university ID’s they gave us to the guards. We entered campus and our guide/student showed us different buildings. We took a picture in front of the library which was a pretty nice building with our masks on. (the air quality really isn’t that bad or wasn’t this day) We then walked through campus. We passed the old campus water tower which looked like a pagoda sorta which was neat. We then proceeded to be stopped by the cops/campus police who apparently asked our guide/student WenWen (?)  why she brought so many Americans onto campus; which really ended up pissing people off when they found out later.  The campus is beautiful and had a lot of willow trees lining the lakes on campus. It was very gorgeous like a nice park you would want to be in, minus the smog and people glaring at you.
We got to the Landscape Architecture building and met one of the head professors who also used to teach at A&M. We went up to a conference room and waited for lecture to start and complained for a while (about heat/the trip etc.) because all everyone on this trip likes to do is complain about everything. The professors came in and we discussed what we would be doing in Beijing (a big who knows basically). And were then asked what we plan on doing for our free weekend. The next hour was spend discussing how to leave Beijing and different cities and countries we could go to that weren’t Beijing. Can you tell that everyone loves it here yet? 
Afterwards we had lecture about storm water. Everyone pretty much fell asleep except for me since it was a bunch of things I had learned this past semester and actually find it interesting somehow. Then we were called into lunch with PhD students from HARVARD. which was absolutely terrifying but of course they didn’t talk to us nor did we talk to them. We all just devoured huge pizzas, fried chicken and watermelon & cantaloupe in different rooms and made fun of Harvard students.
After lunch we went to the Olympic Park. We walked quite a while and made it to the Birds Nest and after some more waiting went inside. It was absolutely stunning. It was super cool to be standing in the arena and think about Usain bolt running on the track. We also got to go on top of the stadium and look at the structure itself. It was extremely terrifying being up that high and walking around on strange elevations but it was really cool to see how it was formed.
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katie-vamos-a-china · 7 years
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katie-vamos-a-china · 7 years
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Wednesday July 26
Today we went to the Great Wall of China. We were told to bring umbrellas which of course I did not and only had a rain poncho I got in Taichung. It took about an hour and a half to drive to the Great Wall area and it was pouring. We walked through the little village area at the base. We then got on a short gondola ride to part of the mountain and walked up to the wall. It was still pouring at this point and the wind was blowing and it was a brisk 50 degrees out, AKA miserable. I stood and looked around the watch tower with people and ventured out onto the wall to take pictures and embrace the beauty. However a few minutes later the wind blew and I was cold and very wet so I went back into the tower. I stood with Austin, Hezekiah, Alex, Ok and Davis and we vented about the weather. A little bit later I went back out to take more pictures and just look at the mountains with an umbrella which was very nice and peaceful.   Then we walked back down to where the gondola dropped us off and talked for about 45 minutes and bought souvenirs. Of course around 10:30, the rain let up so Hezekiah and I walked back up the mountain and went to the other side of the wall and took pictures and talked with other people in our group.
All in all it was a really beautiful sight and great experience. I just wish I had been properly prepared for the weather or had hiking boots so I didnt feel like I would fall and break my legs when walking on the wall. It would have been beautiful if it was sunny and nice outside but it was still breathtaking.
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katie-vamos-a-china · 7 years
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Thursday 7/20
We started our day by getting on a bus to the East coast of Taiwan which was only about a 45 minute drive. We had a tour guide who told us we would be going on a 1km hike, i thought “wow that isn’t bad at all, barely even a mile” We arrived at a small old elementary school overlooking the ocean which was gorgeous for a short break after walking uphill from our bus. Then we were told to start walking up the mountain running alongside the school. It was a long strenuous hike up the mountain but it was more than worth it. Although I was sweating places I have never sweat before (hello hand & arm sweat?) the views were amazing and definitely worth the suffering. Its also just great to say that I was able to hike straight up and down a few mountains. Afterwards we were all dead and bought water/sports drinks from a shop at the end of the trail and headed back to our bus. We drove a bit and stopped along the shore because everyone wanted to at least look at the ocean. Of course we proceeded to hike down the rocky coast to the water so that those brave enough could jump off of the rocks into the water. I was not brave enough to do that nor did I want to be stuck on a bus for another hour with wet clothing although it looked like a ton of fun.
After getting sun burned on the coast we drove up to the national gold museum to basically just touch a giant brick of gold which was cool. We ate lunch in the museum district & I got curry which surprisingly was the first meal to remind me of home. After hanging out around the museum and eating for an hour we drove to an outdoor marketplace which may or may not have partially inspired the beginning of the movie Spirited Away. It was extremely crowded and with narrow streets which I did not enjoy at all but it was a cool experience. As one of the Taiwanese students described, it was like a maze.
After roaming around and trying shaved ice with taro balls and beans on it (1st thing I haven’t liked) we got on our bus to go to dinner near the hotel. Apparently it was a popular restaurant because 2 ladies tried to run in front of us to get in line and were disappointed when they couldn’t and took pictures of us. It was a small dim sum restaurant which was very good. They give you so much food and it was pretty much all amazing (for the most part). They have an affinity for starting meals off with cold meat which I don’t really like. Followed by various kinds of dumplings, (12 bowls of) soup, more (hot) meat. We were also given like fried beef cakes with soup in them, prawns, a sweet mushroom jelly thing which had the consistency of snot which none of the americans ate but it was actually very good. Followed by some sort of thin sesame bread with red bean paste inside. We walked home to the hotel through Chiang Kai Shek’s memorial park area which was gorgeous even at night. And is also apparently a large gathering area for high school dance teams which seem to be popular in Taiwan. We also passed by a small mexican restaurant which was pretty strange to see.
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katie-vamos-a-china · 7 years
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Boarding the Catbus to Beijing today Going to be even more MIA than before ✌🏼out Taiwan & the awesome friends I’ve made (at Taipei 101)
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katie-vamos-a-china · 7 years
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Wednesday July 19
we started the day by actually going to breakfast & I had some rice and buns because there was nothing else that really looked good. Dr. Qu is sick apparently which stinks , basically people have been cycling through getting sick but I am hoping I don't get sick. We went to NTU for class which I actually found pretty interesting. Dr. Li lectured about recycling and waste management and sustainability practices throughout the world and how to use recycled goods. One fun fact is that Taiwan recycles 55% of their waste and the US only recycles 34%. Lecture only lasted for an hour and then we got on a bus to go to a landfill which was repurposed into a park and education area. It was about 25 acres and very pretty. There was a learning facility on it to teach people about landfills, waste & recycling. One area where there used to be trash chutes I am assuming was turned into a slide area which I thought was pretty cute for kids. There was also a pond with lotuses. The park looked really large but we didn't walk around most of it; only around the area near the main recycling education center. Most people really didn’t enjoy the trip because they could care less about parks and recycling etc. and the fact today was supposed to be the hottest day of the year doesn't help.
After this we were given lunch to eat on the bus on the way back to the hostel for a 30 min break. Lunch was ok, probably the closest American food I have had that wasn't McDonalds. It was like a chicken wrap thing that was supposed to be “Mexican” which meant it had onion and tomato inside a tortilla like thing but it was good.
After sitting around the hotel a bit we took off to another tourist area. We got on a gondola to go to the top of some mountains. It was an absolutely gorgeous area. Upon reaching the top we hiked to a tea facility and saw tea plants and got to learn how to pour our own tea correctly
We fed fish which made me very happy and was exciting because they were so excited about the food
then we hiked sown to a cute place for dinner. There were probably like 10 courses and I ate most of them and they were great. I had fern which was sort of bitter and spicy a bit but really good. We had fried potatoes apparently ( i thought it was taro) and I ate 4 they were so amazing
then we went home and I did laundry which was amazing
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katie-vamos-a-china · 7 years
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Saturday July 15
Today we skipped breakfast to lay in bed and around 11 we started walking to the education center where we were going to have lunch & class. Lunch was pretty decent. It was one of those tv dinner box things and it had some egg thing in it which I didn’t eat because eggs & no salsa does not work for Katie. There was rice, a chicken leg, some green stuff which was spicy and good, octopus which wasn’t bad and cabbage. I was enjoying lunch for the most part and trying a bit of everything until Ok asked to use some of my hand sanitizer and somehow ended up squirting me in the eye with it. (This would happen to me of course, it’s only natural) So I ran to the restroom and rinsed out my eye and doused it in eye drops a few times and about an hour later or so it was fine and not burning.
So getting squirted in the eye really puts a damper on your afternoon but  I persevered. We started out class with a lecture on transportation from Dr. Qu which was interesting but also disheartening because a lot of it was “if we don’t shape up the world is screwed.” Then we had a small break and then picked groups and had to give a small lecture about our topic. So I chose landscapes and so we talked about the differences and similarities between the Taiwanese landscape and Texas landscape. I tried my best to talk more but didn’t do a very good job considering I had no idea what to say and was not prepared. After that we got to show our videos we made up to this point in the trip. Pretty much everyone’s are amazing and they’re all on my laptop since I volunteered it. :)
Following class we walked to the restaurant place for dinner, it was a horrible walk honestly I don’t think I have sweated that much in ages. I was surprised that I was able to do it so easily yesterday, but we stopped for 15-30 minute breaks between every hill/large stair area basically. So that was a work out.
We ate dinner which was the first good dinner we’ve had here. There were 3 kinds of meat instead of just the duck. I tried jellyfish which I think Brian made me have one time before but it was not very good. After dinner we exchanged gifts with everyone since that is the culture here, which makes me very uncomfortable for some reason, probably because I didn’t bring enough gifts for every person. But it was really fun & we took selfies and pictures with everyone which was enjoyable. I gave Carol a little notebook with cats on it I found at Daiso and she was so happy and we took cute pictures together and she said she was going to miss me and she is just the sweetest & cutest human being ever. I really hope that I can come back to Taichung one day.
The professor from NCHU brought us beer which was like Taiwan Heineken and then some regular Heineken. I didn’t have any until the very end; the Taiwanese beer tasted much better than the Heineken, which we shotgunned outside with our professors watching, so that was an experience. After that we sang the war hymn in a circle with all the Taiwanese students and professors which was really cool. I then tried my best to lead yells which didn’t go that great since I haven’t done them in a year.
By this time it was only around 8pm and we sat around and talked & I got to know Davis & Cole a lot better because they were pretty drunk and it was very interesting. Then most of us went down to Dean & Gordon’s room and sat around and talked and played truth or dare which was only a little embarrassing. It was a lot of fun and a great end to spending time in Taichung but I am sad that we are leaving all of these cool people, I feel like we have just enough time to start forming some bonds and then have to leave which sucks. We are headed to Taipei later today.
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katie-vamos-a-china · 7 years
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Tuesday July 11
This is a catch up post and honestly will probably be missing things but that’s what happens when you fall asleep by 9pm each night and forget to write on this.
At the start of the day we went to NCHU to have our first real class lecture. There were the usual gifts and picture time beforehand and I even got a small gift from having “won” from the day before. (I was 1/3 who got something for being hardworking & doing well with executing the simulation while doing the landscape simulation the previous day as determined by the department head & a few others from the Land program.) So naturally our professor gave us cookies. Which were like toasted almond cracker sort of things, a traditional pastry in Taiwan apparently & they were good. It was cool to be recognized, however I was a little jealous because the previous day the department head gave out gifts to 3 others for being hardworking and they got a book with designs by landscape architecture students, granted its all in Mandarin but it would be really awesome to have & look through.
So we had lecture where we identified cities throughout the decades from pictures and were given the run down of how class was to work along with our 3 assignments for the semester. Naturally we were given an essay to be due the next day which was really easy. The final project for the class is a storytelling video thing of our trip. We made a storyboard for that in lecture which was sort of silly & I had no idea what I was doing but it was good to think about & I had the privilege of being the only girl to have to go up and talk about my storyboard. For lunch we had a traditional lunch which looked like a TV dinner as it came in a tray. There was duck, broccoli, an egg thing probably, rice, some strange looking chicken that actually tasted fine. Elaine told me that is what they have for lunch a lot because its a very cheap option. They also recycle like nobody’s business here. Everything we ate one basically could be recycled and they do such a great job of sorting everything. It really requires minimal effort, but a bit more than just throwing things away. It would be great if we did that in America but we are too lazy.
After this some people went to the bank to get more money if they needed it. Then we got on the bus to a forest park area which also serves as a detention pond. It was really neat to look at. It was graded in such a way so that you walked down into it basically and there was a small amphitheater overlooking a river/pond area with a small covered deck and walking paths. It was really cool. Im sure it would never fly in America though because of the lack of space. I also talked with Carol for a bit and we took some pictures. She is super sweet. I know I forgot to say this but the other day at some point we were talking and wanted to take pictures with me and she goes “Kathryn’s mine” On the first day we both said that we like to eat and draw as our fun fact so basically we are the same (and she also loves cats).
After looking at the park we took the bus to a rural village area by a military base. We dyed handkerchiefs with dye from onion and ate dinner. We also ate lychee which was fairly good. I put the whole thing in my mouth without knowing there was a big seed & bit into it and had to spit it out and Dean and some others started laughing at me. Dinner was okay from what I remember, we had rice of course, probably pork and some other things.
After getting back to the hotel we ended up going to the mall with a few people since we hadn’t been before. It was 6 stories tall and each floor was different (kids on one floor, sports stores on another etc.) there was a board game shop, a gym, a few basketball courts, a movie theater, a race track for drag racing sort of and also a slide that went down maybe 1 1/2 stories which was cool. There was also a large arcade and bowling alley which was neat & we stopped by because some of the boys were bowling. Other than that it wasn’t really anything more than a mall. I bought a watch and some souvenirs for people. Afterwards we got ice cream and went home for the night.
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katie-vamos-a-china · 7 years
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Here are a few pics from hiking yesterday.
The middle pic is of me (of course), Carol & Judy who are two of the TA’s for the trip and are both getting their Masters in Horticulture.
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katie-vamos-a-china · 7 years
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Friday July 14
Today was our first full day in the forest. I went to breakfast and then around 10, met up with some people to go hiking. I really wanted to go to the top of the mountain but it was about a 4 hour hike so we ended up hiking down to the river. I dont know how long we hiked, it was definitely under an hour and maybe only a few kilometers, so not that bad but it was a switchback trail which was a little scary but cool. Getting to see all the different plants and things was nice. Right as we reached the river there was a lot of bamboo which was freakishly tall (at least 15 feet) and fairly thick. It was very pretty and there were some falls in the river which made it even nicer. We hung out for a bit and then Carol & Judy came by and asked me to go with them, so I ditched the other people which they were a little salty about. We left the river and walked to the little food bar and I got ice cream. Carol got chrysanthemum jelly which sort of tasted like tea to me and was bitter. There was actually a mum in the jelly along with chinese medicine she said and I ate the mum because she didn’t want to; it just tasted like a flower/plant. After eating we ran into anther group who came for lunch, we talked with them for a bit and then left. We walked through a garden (just plants along side a path and a pond) and then went to the nearby souvenir shop and ate lunch outside. Then we went and hiked up what was called the banana trail since it was bordered by different species of bananas which was cool. At the end of the trail was a coffee shop where they showed the process of how coffee is made and a small japanese cottage. We continued to hike to a little grassland area where they had wooden sleds you could slide down the hills on. It didnt really work that well especially with nobody pulling you but it was still cool. We ran into Ok, Hezekiah, Anthony, Dean, Alison & Wendy again and talked to them for a minute until we parted ways. The 3 of us then went to a tree area with wooden hammocks and napped for maybe 30 minutes.
It was around 3 when I got back to the cabin and showered and later went to dinner which was ok; I tried a fried sardine which tasted like a chip and mainly just ate rice and some dessert which was like cold soup with chia seeds in it which was surprisingly good. Then we went back to our room and I worked on homework for a few hours before bed.
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katie-vamos-a-china · 7 years
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Thursday July 13
Yesterday (the 13th) was our last day in Taichung. :(
We started the day by going to the Taichung fine arts museum which was super cool. I was inside most of the time but there were about 20 people with the group and I really dislike being in museums with crowds, so I tried my best to escape everyone to get time alone. They had this cool indoor bamboo garden inside a terrarium sort of thing in the museum with an open sky light at the top. I didnt look at very much but there was a lot of photography, a ceramics exhibit, and more modern art moving pieces that I didn’t look at because the room made scary noises. I ended up going outside most of the time because there was a large sculpture garden that went around the museum. I only had time to see maybe 1/4 of it but from what I saw it was beautiful. They had a little stream running through part of the area with some cool sculptures interesting bridges & a little wooden hut area. Then I went back inside and found people and roamed through the gift shop and bought some souvenirs. 
After the museum we went to the Taichung National Theater which was designed by Ido and is a really cool piece of modern architecture. We had lunch outside the theater which consisted of different breads and pastries, so not a very good lunch although the breads all tasted good. Josh ended up losing his drone flying it around some building which sucks but also bringing a $2000 drone to a foreign country may not be the best idea in the world, but it sure gave him some great footage. So we went inside the theater and it is extremely organic inside which I loved. Also the theater was advertising a Death Note musical which I thought was hilarious and it would have been interesting to be able to see. They had some really cool things in the theater and open floor stores that had like DIY wood craft things and other cool handmade artworks. We went upstairs and walked around more and they were selling more things. Then we went to the roof which had a “garden” on it which was neat. There were mainly just different grasses and some small wildflowers on the roof along with more organic wide column things and benches. While leaving I made Poko take pictures of me jumping in front of the theater which made me look really dumb and people were laughing but its cute at least. Then we left for the Sun & Moon Lake.
The lake was very pretty and surrounded by mountains. We had a little sightseeing boat tour which took us to the other side of the lake.  Throughout the lake there were floating garden things on buoys which Dean told me was where the aborigines used to garden and at some point there were little islands throughout the lake and some had temples on them, but now the temples were under water. We were given about 40 minutes on the other side of the lake to walk around and shop. I went and got soup dumplings with Alex, Poko & Mia. They were really good but I was definitely struggling to eat them and Poko asked me about 3 times if I needed help, because I dropped the dumpling about twice. There was a short little rain shower and we got some mochi and then it was time to go back to the boat. All the shops in the area had locally crafted things and other aboriginal crafts. There was also a gondola to take up to the top of the mountain but it was too far away for us to take. The lake was all really cool but it would have been nicer to stay for a lot longer because there were a lot of things to see; like a pagoda and a few other temples but we didn’t have the time since we changed our schedule. 
After this we left to go to the forest for the weekend. It was a long drive and once we got to the area there were a lot of switchbacks which was only scary when people started talking about the possibility of our brakes failing. We got to the forest about 30 minutes before dinner ended, so we sort of rushed down to dinner. Dinner was....underwhelming, it made everyone very sad and disappointed. There was a whole fish which had been cut in half, whole shrimp with the eyes and everything, asparagus, rice of course, some weird soup which still had the bones for the stock in it, strange mushrooms, and some other weird stuff I cant remember since I didn’t eat it. I had a shrimp, some fish which wasn’t bad because I got a piece with no bones, and a lot of rice and asparagus. Then we went to our rooms. Our rooms are nice and we learned we have doorbells which sound like birds chirping which is sort of alarming. At one point people were running to the other students rooms and ringing their doorbells to scare them and the Taiwanese students basically just thought we were dumb but got a laugh out of it. There was also a small kitten hanging around the rooms which was very cute and ran into our room at one point so we had to take it out. I have no clue when I ended up going to sleep but I passed out without showering which was pretty gross.
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katie-vamos-a-china · 7 years
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Living out my Lizzie McGuire Movie fantasy abroad.
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This is Dean; rode on the back of his scooter/vespa to the baseball game. As you can see we are both wearing helmets which they do in Taiwan, unlike America.
Don’t worry Mom, I am in fact alive, I am not writing this from the grave. It was fun and seemed less dangerous than I imagined.
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katie-vamos-a-china · 7 years
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Wed 7/12
I havent written for the past 2 days because so much has happened and I have been exhausted. Today was a weird/crummy but fun day so it should be easy to sum up.
We left the hotel around 8am after breakfast at the hotel to go to areas that are taking part in rural revitalization. First we went to a kung fu studio which was extremely cool They let us play their big drum and cymbals and hold their tall spears and other weapons. We also walked around and got to see courtyard houses which were very common in (i believe) feudal Japan. The door frame has words over it which is supposed to be the name  of the owners of the house I believe or something similar to that.  Then we walked around the community and looked at the courtyard houses & took pictures. They had a sort of living wall system with drip irrigation from their graywater they collect in water tanks in the community which was cool.
After this we went to a nearby school in the community to look at their teaching garden. It had a pond in it and it seemed to me like maybe a swale of some sort mainly because they were using plants in part of a system to “clean” the water to make it better for the plants. They had like a 5 part system throughout the large garden for the process. It was neat seeing all the different plants, like Fiddle leaf Fig which was very large. We also saw live cicadas which flew at us and were scary. We also got to eat some raw passion fruit which was good but slimy which was weird. Then we picked peanuts which was cool and we got to eat some and they were great! Just unroasted peanuts. By this time it was maybe 11 or something and it was extremely hot. Everyone was sweating buckets and miserable. A lot of people complained a lot and were clearly not enjoying themselves or paying attention when our hosts and Dr. Qu were speaking. 
I think I am missing a part but after this we went to another part of the community for lunch. First we made noodles at this activity center out of potato & rice dough for shaved ice. Then we got to eat the shaved ice which was okay I guess, not the best especially because it wasnt sweet. Then we had lunch which honestly was good to me & everyone else hated. I only got something of everything on the homemade buffet line because Gordon told me what everything was. I got pork with rice & bamboo, fried mushrooms, fried pumpkin, sweet potato fries, potato leaves and leeks. It was all very good but as usual the pork was fairly fatty which I didn’t like that much. I also talked to Dean a bit about tennis and baseball which I thought was cool. He told me what channel to watch Wimbledon on (73 FOX sports) which made me so happy because I didnt think I would be able to watch while abroad, although I dont have time for TV anyway. I also called Austin rude while making pasta because he was saying something in a mocking Chinese accent in front of people which is just so mean and inconsiderate and he did not see what he did wrong. I do not understand that boy.
After lunch we went to another community to learn more about biochar; which was silly. A guy talked about what it was (again) and then as it was about to rain we went outside and watched them burn bamboo which didnt even really make the biochar, & we got to arrange our own bamboo in a kiln to burn. Then we went back to the shelter and listened to two people speak more about it. Basically again it turned into Dr. Qu asking them questions and them not having great answers or misunderstanding and not being able to answer thoughtfully. After this hellstorm was over (it seemed to take forever since it was so hot and boring) they gave us soup. I got green bean soup on accident which wasnt bad minus the chunks of green beans in it. Then we went home!
There was a baseball game today. I went to it with Poko, Ivan, Alex,  Mia, Allen (took place of Elaine today), Gordon & Dean. It was so so cool. I rode on the back of Dean’s scooter which was terrifying at first but super duper cool and exhilarating after getting used to it. Alex rode on Gordon’s & Poko was with Ivan etc. anyway that was so neat. It was cool to see the city in a different perspective and to see the different buildings we havent been by. The architecture in most of the school buildings is really neat and they are all around 3 stories and have colorful accents. The baseball stadium actually looked like a baseball which was extremely cool. Talk about giving an area a sense of place (represent RPTS 402, I actually learned something in a class for once). The game was very loud and exciting which I had never experienced really for baseball. They have their own chants and dance things for each player they sing and yell. I obviously had no clue what they were saying but it was still very cool. It was interesting to see the sports culture of another country. 
After, we (minus Alex & Gordon) went to a Japanese restaurant on a corner by the hotel. It was so good. We got so much food for 100NTD or about $3. Pork, rice, veggies & 1/2 an egg, & I could barely finish it all.
Today started out long & slow but I stayed positive until almost the very end and I am very happy with the turnout. Every day I have thought “wow this is extremely cool; probably the coolest and most fun thing I’ve ever experienced.” But then each day it gets topped. I cant wait to see what is in store tomorrow.
We had homework due tonight which I did; hopefully I can post abt Monday & Tuesday tomorrow in the forest.
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katie-vamos-a-china · 7 years
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here is the landscape project thing we did.
It was me, Elaine & the great landscape student who’s name I honestly can not say.
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katie-vamos-a-china · 7 years
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Saw this today at a nursery but I have no idea what type of flower it is. I could maybe guess the family is Compositae/Aster but thats about it.
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katie-vamos-a-china · 7 years
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Monday July 10: Gardens Galore
I am too lazy to write a full post about the day so that will come tomorrow I guess. But I have some stories for now
I was talking to a student, Wendy, who is also studying landscape design & was asking me about how it works at A&M and what the major design problems are in the U.S. and other things about American culture (like do we have spicy food, do I like it, does America hate China & other countries, why do we allow guns etc. So on the topic of guns she told me she had heard that in America if you are not happy with your grades/arent passing a class/ or cannot graduate that you can get a gun and threaten people so that you will pass/graduate. This appalled me, because I have never heard of this happening. I told her that people joke about it sometimes, that they’ll threaten someone if they don’t graduate but this never actually happens. We just have idiots who shoot up schools for fun.
in the morning we went to “gardens.” aka took a bus around the nursery area part of town and toured/ looked at quite a few nurseries & 1 garden. It was cool to see plants that I had learned about in class this spring and also see them in their more mature states since in Texas some plants (i.e. plumeria, some bromelliads etc.) do not get as big as they do in the Tropics. So I saw a lot of plumeria trees and it was honestly super exciting I just wish I could have smelled them.
The actual garden we went to was very nice & I saw a lot of plants. There was a small lake with a fountain in it which was cool. They had a pathway which was lined with cypress which were huge and it was gorgeous. There was also a cafe in one part of the area in the second floor of the building which is where that picture before with the heart is from. 
We got McDonalds for lunch which was just as trashy as it is in the U.S. Thanks for not letting me down. First time I’ve had that since middle school. It wasnt bad but it wasnt good, it just reminded me of why I do not eat at McDonalds
Went to NHCU and did a demo/class workshop sort of thing. So we each got partnered with a NCHU Land student who only spoke Mandarin and with another student who we’ve been interacting with the past week with the mission to construct the landscape plans given to us. So each team of 3 had different plans for their 9x9 meter plot of land. We had a river walk pathway sorta deal lined with bricks and a tree on one side of the path and shrubs on the other side. It was super duper cool getting to lay this out. It was a lot of work but very rewarding. It was also cool to be told what to do in Mandarin, I had no idea what the guy was saying half of the time but after a bit I caught on and could essentially just know what he was saying based on his hand movements.
He taught me how to lay brick essentially (upright) so line a path and how to make them level and even in the dirt. Along with making a little irrigation circle around shrubs which is much more difficult than it seems, and he had to correct the 2 i did. He was very nice & he basically did most of the work and he gave me a high five at the end of it. Oh and of course the kid was only 19 and basically just started college & is a landscape prodigy so it makes me feel very confident. It would be really cool if A&M had a demo/plot area for landscape practice like this university did.
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