Ill in China

First, I wanted to say hello to 大姑妈 and 二姑妈, who I've noticed have become followers of my blog! =D

One of the things that I will miss the most about PUMC is the awesome breakfast options that exist in the cafeteria. I normally don't eat breakfast back in the States (actually, I often feel nauseated if I do), but here, I have been looking forward to breakfast every day. Here are a few examples of my favorite breakfast foods here:
Hard-boiled egg, vegetable bun, and 豆腐脑 (literally, tofu brain):
豆浆(soybean juice), 韭菜包(chive bun), and egg:

青 菜粥(vegetable porridge) and tea-leaf egg (I have this image saved turned 90 degrees counterclockwise from this; not sure why it uploaded this way):

Thursday night (local time Friday 1 am, actually) was when my classmates found out their match results for their residencies. We went out for Peking duck, and then to the Houhai area afterwards, to hang out at a non-smoky, quiet bar.
Here's the Peking duck:

Hah, just kidding; here's the real thing:

Houhai at night:

A nice piece of artwork that was hanging in a storefront:


On Friday afternoon, a 6th-year PUMC student took us to Qinghua University for a tour of the campus and then a talk to 1st- and 2nd-years, for their English club. The campus was nicer than I expected, and many parts looked like a typical "American" college. I still like Beijing University's campus more, though...more of a Chinese feel to it...
Here I am in front of the first building built on the campus:

Qinghua does have a neat observatory that stand alone:

Trees are blossoming all over the city:


Then on Saturday and Sunday, I went with some of my classmates to Chengde (承德), where the Qing Dynasty emperors Kangxi and Qianlong spent many of their summers at the Mountain Villa (避暑山庄). On Saturday, we went to a couple of the temples that surround the Mountain Villa, Puning Si (普宁寺) and Putuozongcheng Temple (普陀宗承之庙). Pretty neat places. I'm too tired to write about the history of these places, though, so unless someone is really interested, I'm just going to show pictures:
The CCTV building is quite impressive in its scale (it's bigger than I thought it was):

The view from Putuozhongcheng:

Putuozongcheng is a really large Tibetan-style temple:

It is difficult to describe just how large this statue of the Bodhisattva Guanyin, at Puning Si, really was...23 meters (75 feet) does not really enable one to imagine the largeness of the statue (the largest wooden statue in the world):

Chengde has lots of these policewomen (and policemen) telling people to mind the traffic:

It was a little disconcerting to eat in a restaurant that featured deer heads on the wall, but I had to try Manchurian-style food:

One of the little temples/pavilions in the Mountain Villa (coincidentally, this one was called 金山(Gold Mountain), which was also the name given to America by the Chinese immigrants in the mid-1850's):

Unfortunately, on the Sunday of the trip, I developed some sort of acute gastroenteritis that lasted well through Monday. I abstained from food for two whole days (only taking in oral fluids to keep hydrated and to get some electrolytes in), and on Monday night (tonight), I tried to eat a few crackers, even though I wasn't hungry. Fail. I felt nauseated again. This is the sickest I've ever been (at least that I can remember), and I really hope that it goes away soon. I guess I did pretty well, though...I have previously spent 17 weeks living in China, and this is the first time I've gotten any sort of stomach malady. Still, it's not very fun.