A Collage

In order to make up for the several blogs I've posted without any pictures, I decided to dedicate this blog solely to pictures. There will be about 15 pictures in total with a caption on each to make for some interesting stories. If you have questions about any of the pictures, please feel free to ask and I will explain in more detail. 

ENJOY!

Every weekend we never fail to stop by the Southwest gate of Beijing University's campus for the best 串儿 (chuan - kebabs) in town. In this picture you can see the guy who looks like a boss, IS the boss. The girls are from Japan and they were here studying for one month. Boston is actually from Korea, his name is Steve and he lives on my floor.  

A lot of people with cake on their faces. This picture was taken on Nozomi's birthday after we went out for sushi. She turned 20, which apparently is a big deal in Japan, so we celebrated in style with a huge cake and a food fight to follow. Nobody was spared.  

You're probably thinking "Who's that really hansome guy?"  Okay, probably not. But the reason I took this picture right before my haircut was because I'm starting to come to terms with what my brother has been telling me the past 22 years of my life. I'm going to go bald, sooner or later, most likely sooner. I took this picture because I'm at the point where I think I might not have that much hair on my head ever again.  

This is a wonderfully ironic picture. Dad in the foreground saluting Mao (in the background) while wearing a Red Guard winter hat. The good news is he had a great time while in Beijing with Janie, the bad news is, he might not ever be allowed to return after this picture...  

Ignore me, I primarily posted this picture to show two things: First, the pollution on a bad winter day, second, Beijing University's campus. It's a really pretty campus when you can see more than 300 yards. I shouldn't complain too much, the past few weeks have been amazing. The weather has been between 40 and 60 and the sky has been blue for quite a few days now! 

Take it back one month to my birthday. These next few pictures belong with the blog about my wonderful birthday night. This is a picture of us at Hou Hai on my birthday stopping on the barely frozen lake for a quick and safe picture.  

My best guess is that this is saline solution and some other important little bottle of medicine. I don't really know because I didn't read. I was too busy running up and down the halls trying to find where to buy the medicine that presumably saved my friend's life. Thank God for spoken Chinese.  

This is what an emergency room looks like in Beijing at about 2 am. There were about 15 other people laying out in the hallway on the beds that are more easily observed in the following picture.  

Face blurred for confidentiality reasons. This individual had a very rough night. It's a blessing he is still alive today and it surely made for a lot of memories on what could have been a much worse birthday. Kindly take note of the missing shoe. I advise you to enlarge this picture and laugh for a few minutes before moving on.  

As I mentioned before, Beijing University has a feline rescue program where they just bring stray cats from all over the city to their campus and let them run wild and feed them. This is one of those cats. She/He sits in front of our dorm every morning meowing waiting for the cleaners to feed her. Her eyes are pretty awesome!  

My first experience with snake. I know this is cliche, but it really does taste like chicken... or fish.  

The Great Wall. I tried to take this picture to make me look like I was on the edge of the world and about to fall, but it didn't really come across that way. Probably because my face is a horrible mix of falsified fear and laughter. Anyway, the ground is about 12 feet below, I was in no danger. I'm sure you already guessed that though.  

This picture was taken with someone who I do not know. We both happened to buy these wacky glasses at the Summer Palace and saw each other. I helped her put it together and she was very grateful--so grateful she let me take a picture with her. 

We stumbled across the North Korean Embassy after eating dinner. I tried to take a picture of the front sign but the guard was defiant. These pictures really represented the beautiful side of North Korea. They almost make you want to visit the place and set up shop. 

Janie, Dad, and I at Asia's largest screen (seen above our head). You can probably only see 1/5 of the entire thing in this picture. It was massive.  

Janie and Dad were blessed with incredible weather while they were here. In the 5 times I've been to the Great Wall, I've never seen such a beautiful sky as a backdrop. 

It was her 20th birthday. One of the cutest girls I've ever seen. Too bad she speaks no english and just started studying Chinese! 

Thanks for tuning in. Pictures courtesy of John Wurth who helped me come by a camera!