New Blog

I've decided to create a new blog at www.scote2012.posterous.com, if you want to follow my adventures!

Happy Father's Day and Summer Solstice

I'm very behind on blogging lately, and haven't had much time to just sit down and write so I decided since tonight was a rainy night I would blog a bit. First of all belated Happy Father's Day to my amazing dad. As cliche as this sounds, I truly would not be the same person I am today without my dad. My dad is wonderful in so many ways, but I will just name a few. He is one of the most amazing cooks in the world, and I've definitely had my share of trying food all around the world, but it doesn't compare to the way my dad cooks. I definitely attribute my dad to my love for cooking. Though now that I'm in China, I realize when I return I need to learn more recipes so that I can actually cook for myself instead of always cooking with my dad. In addition to my dad being a wonderful cook, he is brilliant. My love for learning definitely comes from him, and I always appreciate that he is so engaged in academics. Dad, I'm so fortunate for all of the amazing things you have done for me, Claire, and Jesse. I'm looking forward to some adventures together when I get back from China. I love you so much!

To everyone else, Happy Summer Solstice!! Again I know I'm a bit late, but better late than ever. The month of June is flying by. I can't believe I'm half-way done with my internship. I hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of summer.

I will write a separate post on the activities I've been up to later!

Beijing!!!

Well I have been in Beijing now for nearly two weeks. I must say the first week was a bit of a shock being back in a huge city like Beijing again and hearing Chinese all the time, but I have quickly adapted back into the environment. When I first arrived, I was placed at a university called Beida, which I thought would be close and convenient to my work, but quickly realized that the commute to work took a solid 1 hour and 20 minutes each way, which seemed like a long commute to be making back and forth to work. Not only was the commute bad, but the room that I was placed in didn't have a functioning A/C unit, which is quite difficult when you have to live in the Beijing summer, and for the price I was paying I would have expected more. I am so fortunate though, because I was quickly able to make a change and found housing at CRI, and now am able to roll out of bed in the morning which is such a treat and has made my life so much better!

My first week at CRI went overall really well, some days are more interesting than others but thats life. I really like all my co-workers and feel that they are super welcoming and supportive, which has been really nice. It's always fun going to lunch with my co- workers, and I'm loving getting to have the delicious Chinese food that I missed so much when I was in the States. The only thing I must admit that I miss is the BBQ's in the summer time, but other than that I don't really miss American cuisine. I really like the apartment I'm staying at, and love that it has central a/c ( I know I keep obsessing over the a/c but it is something that actually makes a huge difference in the Beijing summers). Though I must admit, I think it was hotter last summer when I was living in Taipei.. I think that it's just that I haven't been in hot weather like this for a long time so it just feels hot in these first couple of weeks. My first weekend in Beijing was spent kind of just getting adjusted to everything, and making the move from my housing in Beida over to CRI. I did end up meeting one a friend who's from Beijing and goes to umass which was fun... we went to have Xinjiang food, which is one of my favorite types of food here in China. I also found the Catholic Church here, which was much easier than I had expected. I've been always fortunate to be able to find the Catholic churches in every place I have traveled, which has always been nice.

This weekend, I ended up doing some more exploring. On Friday, I went out with a co-worker and we went to this area( I'm forgetting the name) that had lots of little restaurants and shops. We ate at this great little restaurant that has a roof top terrace, which was really nice. I got to practice my Chinese as well, which was really nice. The one thing about working at CRI is that its mainly an English speaking environment, so I don't get to use my Chinese very often in the work environment.

On Saturday, I met up with another student from my university who is also in Beijing doing an internship for the summer. She's living in this really cute little hutong( traditional) neigbhorhood. Right next to her house is an entire street of pet shops, which was really fascinating to see. I couldn't get over all of the animals were for sale in this one little block. It seems like a trend now as China's middle class is growing, pets are the new thing to have, especially cute little dogs. However, the one thing I was surprised about is that people just buy animals so casually without really thinking about the major responsibilities that are involved with having pets. As a result there are a lot of street dogs and cats. Anyways it was fun getting to pet the little puppies, but I think the shop keepers were annoyed with us because they wanted us to buy one of them and not just play with them.

In the evening we went to this area called Lotus lake, which is filled with bars and restaurants. It was really a hopping place with tourists and natives all around enjoying summer and the weekend. I was pretty exhausted by the time I got back, especially with the subway ride. The one thing that is very different about Beijing than Shanghai is that the subways here tend to be extremely crowded, which means that in the prime hours I usually feel like I'm squished in like a sardine, which is not always the most pleasant feeling, but it's something I'll just have to get used to!

Overall my two weeks here have been really fun... I'm looking forward to more adventures in the coming weekends. But for now, its back to work tomorrow morning. Hope everyone is enjoying the start of summer so far. I'll post some pics. soon, I haven't gotten a chance to upload them to my computer yet.

... And I'm Back!

It has been a long time since my last blog post, but I have decided to start up blogging again because I will be traveling again this summer and have felt that blogging is a great way to tell about my adventures and stories. I will be in Beijing, China this summer for an eight week internship with a radio station and am really looking forward to and should be a great learning experience. I can't believe I'll be in China in exactly a week from today! Its both scary and exciting to be going on this next adventure. However, tonight I'm not feeling well and feel that I'm coming down with a terrible cold due to the stress and grieving I've been through during this past week. Last Sunday, our dear family friend George who was like a grandpa to me died suddenly. He was my brother's godfather, and I have known him since I was four years old so it has been a very sad week to loose such a wonderful man. I will post more later, for now I must rest.

Happy New Years!

It has been ages since I have posted on this blog partly because time has just really flown by in 2010. I'm truly amazed at all of the amazing things that happened in 2010, and definitely think it was a great year for many reasons. I thought I would reflect on the 10 things that I have been most grateful for in the year 2010; there are certainly many things to be grateful for, but I will name just a few and go in chronological order from the beginning to the end of 2010.

1.) I think this goes without saying that I'm very grateful for my family and the love and support that they have given me throughout the year. I'm especially thankful for the fact that it was so easy to communicate them while being abroad for seven months. I always realize when I'm away for periods of time, how important my family is to me. I am also of course thankful for all of the new and old friends that I have had throughout the year, life is always sweeter with friends in it!

2.) I'm extremely grateful for the opportunity that I had to go to Uganda Africa with my friend J in January. It was certainly a life changing trip, and I think that the organization 52 kids is such an amazing organization that is doing so many wonderful things for children and education in Uganda. I'm also very thankful to J's Mom who financially supported me on going on this amazing trip... like I said it is a trip that I will remember for a lifetime. I have never been able to get the precious children's smiles out of my thoughts.

3.) The scholarship that I received to go to Taipei, Taiwan and study for three months. I truly had a wonderful three months studying in Taipei. I never realized how much I could actually love a city. I think the one thing I was always amazed by was the transportation system( the subways and busses were great and so easy to get around in). I also loved the night markets in Taipei, I definitely miss being there just for the night life and all of the amazing food. Most of all, I felt so fortunate to have made some amazing friends in Taipei that I will treasure for a life time.

4.) I never would have imagined that with all of my travels, I would end up meeting so many of the families who have students at my old high school. I'm truly grateful for the families that I met both in Taipei and Shanghai that made my experience so special and made me feel very at home in a foreign country.

5.) The opportunity to visit my dear friend E in KL Malaysia. Being in Malaysia made me just realize how much I truly love Asia in general. I loved going to the Ramadan food bazars, getting to experience eating rotti tissue( I know sounds bizarre , but it is so delicious), going to Sabah and para sailing, relaxing on the beach in Bali, and of course just getting to spend time with E and the rest of her family.

6.) Spending my fall semester in Shanghai. It was such a great experience getting to compare two very different cities such as Shanghai and Taipei. I loved getting to explore a new city, though I realized Shanghai was a bit big for my liking( I think I would prefer a smaller city). I loved getting to experience food at the back gate behind my school, definitely an experience that I'm missing so much now being home. I'm so grateful for the amazing friends that I made while being in Shanghai as well. I'm especially thankful for my roommate who was so patient with me while learning the language; I so much appreciated being have someone to practice my Chinese with everyday and definitely improved so much within the three months that I was there.

7.) I'm beyond thankful that my mom, dad, brother, and sister were able to visit me in Shanghai in October. It was certainly such a huge gift getting to have them visit me and see my life in Shanghai and get to travel to a couple other places with them while they were there. It was so wonderful for my mom to be able to return to China after her first trip over 2o something years ago.

8). These past six months, one of my goals was to visit some orphanages while in Asia and volunteer a bit. While it was definitely difficult at first to find some places I could volunteer at I was able to volunteer at an orphanage in Taipei, and then I also got to visit one in Malaysia and in Xi'an China. I think it was really special for me when I got to visit Starfish Orphanage in Xi'an mainly because my family got to see the orphanage that I jumped through hoops and hurdles to visit on my first trip to China. It was so special for them to get to see, why I have such a passion for helping orphaned Children.

9.) This year has been another year of learning so much, but specifically for me it has been a year that I have focussed specifically on improving my Chinese language skills. I'm so grateful for all of my teachers and friends who have supported me in learning the Chinese language. It certainly has not been an easy road, but I hope one day that this language will be well worth all my struggles and efforts. I'm thankful for the great education I have had this past year and all of the people who have played such a pivotal role in it.

10.) The year 2010 really brought me on so many exciting journeys across the world and I'm so thankful that I have had all of the exciting opportunities to meet new people and see new places. I am thankful for my overall health and well being while I traveled to all of these amazing places, and so glad I didn't end up in a foreign hospital. Here's to 2011 and all of the upcoming adventures that it entails.