Beijing Travels

*I kept a journal for a part of the trip.


May 14th, Thursday
At 2:40pm, 5/13, Molly and I boarded our plan to Hong Kong in Taichung Airport. This airport was a lot smaller than Taoyuan in Taipei. We had a 3 hr. Layover in Hong Kong. Molly was feeling sick, so she slept most of the time. In all the airports, the effect of the H1N1 virus was evident;bathrooms were cleaned once an hour, even I wore a mask on the plane, "just in case." Both flights on the Hong Kong Express were small. I guess I got used to China Airlines w/personal TVs. I was planning on playing video games or watching a movie during the 3 hour flight. Instead, I finished my book and slept.


We arrived in Beijing at 11pm. We checked into our hostel at around midnight. Luckily, I remembered to bring my alarm clock, and early this morning, we had to catch a bus for the marathon Inspection Day at Beijing International Hotel, so we took at taxi at 4:30am.


After a little confusion, we found the buses, and it was a 3 hour bus ride to the wall. The wall was amazing. Absolutely beautiful. The marathon atomosphere seemed fun, but the people took on more of a party atmosphere than a serious one. While there, I saw a little bit of the village life, and realized how horrible it must seem to them...we spent so much money, probably more than they make in a few months pay, just to do one race...it made me very aware of the differences in priorities.


Now the wall; very, very hard! I'm actually thinking it's going to be MUCH harder than I originally imagined. AND, we're going to do it twice. But I think by the end, it'll be worth it. We've raised over $500-$600 for our charity, which I thought was pretty wonderful.


There were interesting people running --> the group of old men, the woman from Dubai, the banker from India, the frat boys, the sorority girls, the family with the bratty teenagers, the outdoorsy couple. I'm very excited to be running with them. I hope my knees won't let me down.


When we got back, we picked up our marathon packet & relaxed a bit. We walked around, did some shopping & ate dinner at a restaurant with no English menus. All in all, a very good day.

----------
On Friday, we got to sleep in, went to visit Tienanmen Square and the Forbidden City (they were in the same area). Tienanmen Square was a lot bigger than I thought it would be. The pictures I've seen of the tanks rolling through the square dwarfed the actual size of it. Nowadays, local people go to the square to relax, eat lunch, and of course, people watch all the tourists.

The Forbidden City was HUGE! We got to see the areas in which the Emperor slept, where they kept the concubines, etc. They made the Forbidden City (where it was "forbidden" for commoners to enter, because it was where the Emperor lived) into a museum, so even though they kept the original buildings, inside each were artifacts and relics.

There were also some art students selling their paintings in the entrance of the Forbidden City. The students were learning the traditional Chinese way of painting, on silk, and using ink and paints. I bought three paintings.

We figured we should try to keep our sightseeing to a minimum because we wanted to save our legs for the marathon the next day. But even then, we walked for about 4 hours. Later that night, we went to a Kung Fu show at The Red Theater. It was more of a production about the beginnings of Shaolin Kung Fu than actual Kung Fu. But it was very enjoyable.
----------
May 16th, Saturday

We did it! At 2:20am, Molly & I took a taxi to get to the bus to get to the wall. At 7:30am, we started the race. We began at the back of the pack, thinking it would be less crowded. For the first 3 miles, it was uphill at a 10% climb. Then the stairs & the wall. In my mind, doing the marathon, there were 4 worst-case-scenarios: Muscle cramps; painful knees; hitting the "wall"/total exhaustion; getting my period. Guess which one I got after the first three miles?


The wall was bottle-necked. We were stuck in the same place on the wall for 20-30 minutes, behind half marathoners, 10k-ers, and the 5k-ers, so even though Molly and I ran the entire uphill part (while most other people walked), we still were behind a lot of people. We sprinted the areas of the wall that we could, and did the stairs as fast as we could. The single-file line was narrow and hard, so it was very difficult to pass people. Then we ran in the villages, the children were so cute and loved shouting to people. The little girls would hand out flowers to runners. We put them in our hair.


I don't remember exactly, but it was around mile 12 where my stomach started to hurt to the point where I couldn't stand up straight, but hunched over. So the next few miles were more of a run/walk, with a huge hill in the middle of the run. I felt bad that I kept Molly from running faster, but I couldn't run for more than a few minutes without having to stop and walk again. Muscle fatigue, even cramps, I would know how to deal with. But a stomachache? I had no idea.


We got to talk with some very cool people while running. And it was encouraging to see the variety of runners out there. The people in the village lined up to see us. We were like their yearly parade.


At mile 21, we hit the wall again. This time, shaving off 45 minutes from the first time. It was strange, before we got to the wall, in the villages, we weren't surrounded by many marathoners. But when we got to the wall, we saw many, many runners, overwhelmed by the stairs. It was like looking at a death march...runners, literally crawling on their hands and knees up the stairs. The stairs ranged from 4 inches to 2 feet. My stomach didn't hurt during the stairs, I think it was because it made me bend over, squishing my stomach. I actually got my second wind doing the stairs. It was very enjoyable.


Then the 5K downhill. I should've ran the entire thing. But instead, only ran the last 2K, it felt great though, I had so much energy left from not using it during the race. My time was awful, but we made it within the 8 hour cut off. I felt bad for the people who didn't...they got a DNC -- Did Not Complete -- for their final race time, even if they did complete it, but not within the 8 hours. Funny, Molly and I don't feel too horrible. We're not so sore that we can't climb stairs or anything. Who knows, maybe it'll all catch up tomorrow.
--------
On Sunday, we decied to stretch out our legs by walking around the Summer Palace. The Summer Palace was built so the royals could escape the Summer heat of Beijing city by going to the lake where there was always a cool breeze.

The Summer Palace was beautiful. Our legs were a little bit tense, but not too sore. With the breeze, we really wanted to find a kite, but no one was selling any. We settled on a ribbon instead. The Palace itself seemed to be built around the idea of meditation and contemplation, views to inspire creativity. The only problem was so many people and tourists there. It was beautiful regardless.

On Sunday night, we went to a dinner for all the marathoners. They awarded some prizes, fastest male and female on the course, the man who ran his 50th marathon on his 50th birthday, and a woman who started running marathons in 1995, and had run 165 since then...which blew my mind...it must've been addicting for her...

We had to go to bed early again because of our early morning flight. All in all, it was a very good trip. I think I would've liked more time to see all the sights Beijing had to offer, but we had to get back and teach our classes. We got to meet a lot of interesting people on this trip. It feels strange being done with something we had been planning it for months, training for months. Now it's over. It has definitely been one of the best things I have ever done.

The Great Wall Marathon

The Great Wall was breath-taking.


Words can't describe how beautiful and how immense the Wall was...when we started our run, the wall was covered in mist.




The marathon was held on a portion of the wall that wasn't normally visited by tourists, and so many of the people in the villages surrounding the wall came out to see the crazy people trying to run.



But as far as the eye could see, there were only trees and forests. It was beautiful.



I tried to take photos to show how awesome the stairs were on the wall, but I couldn't quite capture it all. We ran these stair twice; the first time after mile 3. The second time, after mile 21. The second time, there were people literally using their hands and feet, crawling up the stairs.

The fastest male was 3 hours, 40 minutes. The fastest woman was 4 hours, 3 minutes. We were...much further behind. But we made it within the 8 hour time limit, and weren't last! ^_^ In the middle, when I was having problems with stomach pain, we just decided to enjoy the run and take as many photos as possible.

This experience was definitely the best thing I have ever done. Maybe the next marathon I'll actually run more of the race course, but I almost feel that if I ran faster, I wouldn't have enjoyed the sights more.

While in beautiful Beijing, we also got to see Tienanmen Square, The Forbidden City, The Summer Palace, and a Shaolin Kung Fu show. I promise to post more later.

...With 7 out of 10 toenails still intact...

Right now, I'm waiting to hear back from my editor at the Salt Lake Trib, to see if they still want an personal essay-type thing. I'm really hoping they do; it'd bring so much more attention to the cause than the website I have up...which is still pretty ghetto. Before writing the article, I didn't really see how amazing this charity is -- Halfthesky.org. Their focus is not about adoption and not about just providing a place for orphans, but to make sure every child in their care knows that they are loved, and that they are unique, creative individuals who have so much potential in life.

This Saturday, Molly and I, and some of the other teachers are going to go to the bike trail, set up a place to try to get more attention to our cause. lol. I hope it works. I'm bringing my guitar, and possibly a hula-hoop...I talked to my language exchange, and she said that most likely we wouldn't need a permit to do it. And the best defense she said was just to admit we can't speak Chinese, because most police officers can't speak English, and so they'd probably let us off easy.

To prepare for the marathon, and the intense stairs in it, I've been trying to run up mountain trails maybe once or twice a week. I'm trying to keep myself motivated, and now, with the head of the school's approval to take the necessary leave hours to comply with the Chinese government's requirement to survey the wall two days before the race, and buying the plane ticket and hostel...I'm becoming really, really, really excited. ^_^It worries me that I still haven't ran more than 16 miles without stopping. And now I only have three weeks until the race. This week will be the last week I try to do a very long run (I'm hoping to hit 18-19 miles), then I'll start to taper off to give my legs enough rest for the race. In all honesty, all I want to do is finish before the 8 hour cut off. If I finish in 6-7 hours, I'll be estatic. The fastest woman on the course was at 4 hours, 15 minutes...which goes to show how tough this course really is, even for an elite runner. My goal was to hit 20 miles before the race...but I'd be ok with 18. All I know is I'd die without those lifesaving gel packs that my parents sent me.

My body hasn't changed much from the running, and I feel a little disappointed in myself that I didn't become 100 percent dedicated to training. And for a while, I was even feeling a little bit annoyed that even my short runs now take at least an hour, while the long runs take upwards of three hours. But even though I weigh almost the heaviest I ever have weighed, I feel healthier than I ever have. Even if my weight isn't where it should be, I'm finally ok with my thick, sturdy, Okinawan arms and legs. ^_^ I've finally come to terms that I'll never have the long, lean arms/legs I always admired. Now, I'm happy with the muscles I can actually see in my tree trunk legs. ^_^

Erin was nice enough to take some photos for me on my favorite road to run. It goes up the mountain, in the rural areas. The view from the road is amazing, and it's right next to the river/mountain range. Whenever I get tired of running on the bike path (where I do my long runs so I can actually measure my distance in kilometers), where it's relatively flat, I come out to this trail, and get invigorated again. Even though it's uphill, it doesn't feel like it because it's so beautiful.

I started Tae Kwon Do a couple of weeks ago, and I love it. I don't quite understand the technique yet, but it's an AMAZING workout. It's on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and on Fridays, I still have my Tai Chi class, where I'm almost to the end of the kata. All in all, it's been a good few months.

It's Parent/Teacher Open House this week. So, hopefully, tomorrow, it won't be rainy outside so I can actually show the parents what I usually do for gym in Afternoon Kindergarten. If not, we always resort to playing board games because there is no indoor gym in the new school. Oh well. I hope it'll go well.

So below is what I sent to my editor. I plan on contacting her tomorrow if I don't hear back from her soon. I'm very open to advice. lol. Heaven knows I need all I can get. ^_^

============================

Heart pounding.

Feet soaked.

Wiping the rain out of my eyes, I keep running. It’s the rainy season here, but I need to keep moving. My tired legs take me over a long, steel bridge that leads into a pathway between wet, moss-covered stone walls and large, leafy tropical plants. The rain continues to pour down on me as the water in the river increases, intensifying the roar of sound as it moves swiftly by.

I have to keep going. Stopping isn’t an option anymore.

A month after graduating from the University of Utah in May 2008, I boarded a plane to Taiwan. My fresh diploma in hand, I wanted to put it to good use and explore the world beyond my shell. Teaching English in Taiwan seemed to be the ticket to all these things. Thrust into deep waters, thrown into a world where I didn’t know the language, the culture, or the people around me, I was forced to go beyond my comfort zone. And it was liberating.

Now, 10 months later, and as a head teacher for the Kindergarten classes at the English cram school I work for, I have come to appreciate where I have come from and where I am now, to figure out what I will be doing in the future. My life is barely recognizable to me as I try to remind myself where I had been just three years earlier, and where I never want to be again.

Just three years earlier, I had dropped out of college for the third time. Until that point in my life, I never had the drive or motivation to succeed. Comfort, for me, bred apathy. There was nothing to push me beyond my comfort level, and I was ok with that. I had a fear of success equal to – if not stronger than – my fear of failure.

Taiwan was a lifesaver. I have discovered teaching young children has given me a chance to relive my youth. I no longer fear making a fool of myself just so I can see a kid smile. I'll dance funny to songs they know; I'll act like a monkey and pretend to eat lice out of their hair; I'll even wear fake, pipe-cleaner moustaches all day while employing a high pitched accented voice. And it’s ok.

Teaching and exploring the tropical climate of Taiwan elevated this experience for me. Equipped with my bike and my running shoes. I have become much more active than I have ever been. It's so easy to bike to a hiking trail and be able to immediately be surrounded by rainforests.

Being in this area of the world, I have been lucky enough not only to be able to explore many beautiful places Taiwan has to offer, but also to travel to Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan. I did some research on marathons in Asia and discovered China has one on the Great Wall on May 16^th.

Two of my older sisters have ran the Salt Lake Marathon, and most recently, this past April, my oldest sister ran the National Marathon in Washington D.C. I have never been a runner. Anything over three miles, I would be patting myself on my back and congratulating myself on a job well done. But now, three miles means I still have 23.2 more miles to go.

Unlike so much in my life, deciding to run a marathon couldn’t be a rash decision. I couldn’t wake up one day and just choose to run one. Well, run one without having to be carried away on a stretcher, that is. It would take more dedication and perseverance than anything I have ever done before.

I casually mentioned the Great Wall Marathon to another English Teacher at my school who, it turns out, just completed a half-marathon. While I was semi-non-committal to the marathon, Molly was gung-ho. When she suggested to use this opportunity not only to better ourselves, but to give back to the community, I committed.

After hours of researching various local charities centered on what we were working on in our lives – helping children and becoming strong, independent women – we chose the Half the Sky Foundation.

According to their website, 95 percent of all healthy children in China’s institutionalized child welfare system are girls, due to the government policy of only one child per family and the traditional preference for boys. The foundation takes its name from an old Chinese saying, “women hold up half the sky.”

The children in these programs are orphans, some with disabilities, others healthy, but most will never be adopted. The focus for this foundation is not the newest facilities or the most high-tech toys; but the loving, family-like environment that so many institutionalized children miss out on. They have programs dedicated to infant nurturing to preparation for higher education.

It was so easy for me to forget how easy I have it in life, striving for self-actualization when all these children want is their basic needs met, and something as simple as a loving embrace.

So why a marathon? A few hours of discomfort on my part won’t change anything, won’t give me any idea of what some of these children have to go through on a daily basis. But maybe it’s a start.

And so I run. Even during the rainy season when my motivation is at its lowest, I pick up my running shoes and head for the door, reminding myself why it’s no longer an option not to. I have to run.

For more information, please visit our website at runningthegreatwall.com.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for Spring Scream

Spring Scream is a yearly concert series held in Kenting, the beach resort in Taiwan. Over the course of three days (April 3-5), a TON of bands (some well known, some not-so-much) play on several stages. Bands/artists from Korea, Australia, France, and other places came this year. We made it to one of the days over the weekend, and it was well worth the trip. ^_^ The music stopped at 3am, but we decided to stay awake to watch the sun rise.

This is just a bunch of video clips from the concert. I promise to put more pictures/comments soon ^_^

Flat Footed Goodies

Back in the day where being flat footed got you out of the army...

Yesterday I hit 20 Kilometers. Molly and I ran it in 2 hours, 15 minutes, so that's close to an average of 10/11 minutes per miles. We were going very slowly at the start though, I don't think we were planning on trying to get a good time. For me, I wasn't really concerned about how fast I was going, I just wanted to be able to finish it. Actually, to tell the truth, toward the end, I was very aware that I was running faster, just because I wanted to be done with running faster. ^o^

It was my first run to almost a half a marathon (20K is 12.5 miles), for Molly, it was her 4th or 5th time doing a half a marathon.

Honestly, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I thought I'd have to walk a bit, or at least be dead by the time I finished. I'm not in that great of shape, but we ran the entire time, and there wasn't a point where I was certain I would have to stop. Molly was awesome, she brought apple slices that she shared with me while we ran. I think it helped a lot.

I need new shoes. I have flat feet, and that throws off the alignment of my ankles, my knees and my stride.
I mean, look at those feet!!! No arches AT ALL! They're basically blobs. When I do the wet test, I don't see a foot, I see a blob. It's a very sad thing. I have this (and probably unrealistic) idea that if I just get a really good pair of shoes that help correct flat-footed runners, that all my problems would go away and that my feet will magically be happy, happy feet.

But right now, as it is, I'm probably going to lose two of my toenails. Both on my right foot, the middle one and the baby toe, which is horribly disfigured already. Very gimpy toes.I thought I was doing well and wouldn't lose any toenails, but on this last long run, my feet took a beating. They don't hurt now or when I'm running, they just look ugly.

On March 21st, Jackie is running the National Marathon...she's amazing. Liz and Vickie both ran the Salt Lake Marathon in 2005 (?) and 2008 in very respectable times. Crazy girls. I'm just hoping to finish before the 8 hour cutoff... ^_^

Rocks, Lava Lamps, and Sponge Bobs

Hai mien bao bao... My name was put on the board three times on Friday because I kept saying it to make my kids smile. They're not supposed to speak Chinese, but I thought Sponge Bob's Chinese's name was so cute I had to say it. Three times. ^_^ (Tom and Jeff in the picture above)
Some of the kids were resistant to making Sponge Bob for an art project, but eventually, they caved in to peer pressure. The majority of the kids think Hai mien bao bao is HILARIOUS. (Eve and Betty working on their Sponge Bobses)
Betty and her Sponge Bob.
Carol and her Sponge Bob.The finished project!

This is a video I made of my Fourth Grade class and the projects we did for the science theme. ^_^

Travels

I haven't blogged in the last little while because everything is going pretty well. Teaching is so much easier this semester, and it's nice to have a friend who is a part of the community to show me around and teach me Chinese (even though I'm a bad student).

Joanne has taken Erin and me to unique places around Taiwan, like the the Toilet restaurant, which had delicious food. I thought it was funny to order the curry, just to see what it would look like in the toilet bowl...as if I didn't know. ^_^

The Science Museum in Taichung, which had an entire building (with three floors!) for people to try out different science contraptions to test theories. This is us in the optical illusion room ^_^ Finally! Once I'm tall!!!

And a few weeks ago, Joanne, Erin and I went to Kenting, the beach, and Alishan, the mountain area here in Central Taiwan.
It was absolutely gorgeous, and fun. I think I'm going to post mostly photos here because just words wouldn't be adequate.

Alishan

The trainride to Alishan was more scenic than necessary. But it was beautiful, fields of yellow flowers and the old countryside, going up the green mountain from tropical to temperate plants. The train ride was 4 hours, the bus ride back was 2.

Alishan National Park, in the clouds.Some of the trees in Alishan were breathtaking, looking almost fake.So, besides the hiking, the main reason why people travel to Alishan is to see the sunrise. There had only been one morning since Chinese New Years where it was too cloudy to see the spectacular vision...guess what day that was... ^_^ Yup. But it was a beautiful view regardless.

Kenting
One of the beautiful sunsets in Kenting.
We stayed at the Ohana Inn, run by a guy from Oahu...however, we never met him, just his wife. They also gave surfing lessons. We weren't in Kenting long enough to do everything we wanted, but I plan on going back. We were the only guests at the hostel, so even though it was built for 10 people, were were the only three there for both nights.
The beach was just amazing. It wasn't the hottest time of the year to go, but it still was warm, even in early February, the temperature at about 22/23 degrees C.
At one time, Kenting was underwater, the rocks were once coral or lava.I really like to climb things, so poor Joanne and Erin had to humor me while I tried to climb everything I could. We spent a good portion of the day in Kenting National Park, hiking around.

We went to two caves, they were a little small-ish, but were a lot of fun. We scared ourselves by trying to not think about zombies while going through dark crevices...A giant maple tree, thought to be over 400 years old, gutted by a infection of fungus. However, the tree is still alive and fruitful.I thought this was just a cool picture. I swear that one tree is trying to strangle out the other one...I took so many photos, everything in Alishan and Kenting was beautiful, it's hard to pick which ones are the best.

Right now, Feng Yuan is going through an unusual heat spell. It is really nice though, and it's hard to teach in class when all you want to do is play outside. ^_^