Oh, hello again study bunny.

Yes, it's midterms again. That means radio silence on this blog until at least Friday, when that black midterm cloud stops hanging over my head.

Wish me luck!

Shame on you PKU

Recently, Peking University (北京大学, or as it's more commonly known 北大) announced they were going to expand their program of offering "consultations" to students they deemed "problematic."

Included on the list of students that should receive such counseling are students who have academic problems, come from poor backgrounds, are addicted to the Internet and have "radical" ideas.

What exactly consistutes "radical ideas" is beyond me though. I thought college and  university was the best time for students to broaden their thinking and challenge their beliefs.

It's one thing to offer students support should they choose to seek it, it's another thing to single some students out as "problematic."

All I have to say is, Peking Univeristy, being the prestigious university you are, you ought to be ashamed of yourself.

The Telegraph (UK): Peking University to screen students for 'radical thoughts'
China.org.cn (China): PKU to expand problem student consultations

For the record, I'm a student at Beijing Normal University (北京师范大学), not Peking University. It's probably a good thing too, or else I'd probably deemed a problem student as well. At least I can say I'm American and use that as an excuse.

Long time no see!

Hello dear blog readers,

My sincerest apologies for being MIA since my winter break started. Traveling is exhausting and time really has flown.

My friend Leslie left this morning to return home to the United States after spending a month with me in China/Hong Kong. I'm sure she's thrilled to excited to return home to comforts of home and not having to listen to Mumford & Sons (my latest musical obsession) every morning. Not to mention the fact that squat toilets don't exist in the United States.

As for me, I have a couple more days left in Hong Kong before I return to Beijing on Sunday. While I'm not exactly jumping for joy about returning to Beijing (after all, Beijing & I have a rather rocky relationship), my "loss" is definitely your gain.

Consider this blog officially back from hiatus. Pictures & posts about my travels to follow soon. Your patience (I think) will be rewarded.

Thanks for reading,

Angela

P.O. Box # Behind-the-Athletics-Building

This is how the Chinese students apparently pick-up their packages.

Yes, it's exactly how it looks. Everyday, the delivery man (or men, since there are several shipping companies) rides a bike onto campus with all the day's packages, parks his bike either behind or in front of the athletics building, and spreads out all the day's packages on the sidewalk. The students, in turn, come by and pick up their packages. It's a very trusting system.

Needless to say, this system would not work in the United States.

Return of the Study Bunny

Yep, it's that time again. Finals time. You know what means...

See you on the other side.

(PS. Only 3 more days until break! Finally! Hooray!)

Dorm hallway or creepy horror film hospital corridor?

You tell me.

It's the thought that counts

My dorm, along with the other international students' dorms, have been decorated for Christmas:

 

It may not be the best decorating job in the world, but it's the thought that counts. I appreciate the effort. Plus, the trees in my dorm light up too; the other trees in the other dorms aren't quite as cool.

Forget Jack Frost,

...have you met Jack Ice?

Please excuse the clutter that lives on my windowsill

This is what I woke up to this morning--a icy window. Just to clarify, my window is frozen from the inside.  And yes...the heater was on last night.

Chinese pop music

Lately, my huihua (conversation) teacher has been starting each class by playing different Chinese pop music videos. While I'm sure listening to music in foreign languages (along with films and television) is a great way to aide our learning of Mandarin, I must confess from what I've heard of Chinese pop music previously and after coming here to Beijing, I'm not much of a fan.

Perhaps it's just the music I'm being exposed to and that seems to be very popular, but all the songs seem to be slow, dramatic power ballads with music videos featuring even more over-dramatic story lines, e.g. right after a couple moves in together, they discover the girl has some sort of fatal cancer. Call me a cynic, but watching the music videos and listening to the songs make me cringe.

To me, listening to the songs and watching these music videos is much like taking an already super-sweet candy, drenching it in even more sugar syrup and then eating it. There's no way the overly saccharine tast of the candy, or in this case the music, appeals to me. I feel like I'm getting cavities just by listening to it.

Many other people in my class and other people I know in the US seem to like it though, so maybe it's just me. I also do realize that our musical taste is very much influenced by our respective cultures and I do like some sappy, slow longs from time to time (yes, James Blunt, I'm looking at you), but from what I've heard Chinese pop seems to be too much for me.

Of course, I don't profess to have very much knowledge on Chinese popular music. So if you perhaps want to prove me long or know of a Chinese band/singer that may appeal to me, please by all means let me in the comments or via e-mail. I'd be happy to be proven wrong.

Jay Chou, a big Chinese pop star from Taiwan.

Sorry, I have no access to YouTube here in China, so I can't embed or link you to a Chinese pop music video. I'm sure if you search on YouTube "Jay Chou" or even "Chinese pop song," plenty of videos will pop up.

Thanksgiving Misconceptions

It's definitely very indicative how of just prevalent American culture is abroad when most of the non-Americans here at BNU (and the teachers) know of Thanksgiving, which for all intensive purposes a very American holiday.* Not only do they know of the holiday Thanksgiving, many of them knew that Thanksgiving is in November and includes a turkey. However beyond that, their knowledge of Thanksgiving was limited (not that I can blame them for that). But they did have some interesting ideas about what traditions were apart of the holiday:

On Thanksgiving, everyone tells the truth.
One of my classmates asked me earlier this week if it was tradition that at Thanksgiving everyone sits at the dinner table and tells the truth. At first, I was very perplexed by her question, until I figured out that she was most likely getting this idea from a number of US television shows and movies. In many television shows and movies that feature Thanksgiving, all the family drama comes out at the dinner table while the family is all gathered together. Although family drama rearing it's ugly head is not a Thanksgiving tradition in the United States, I do suspect that perhaps for some families, it might be almost be the equivalent to a tradition.

After we gather for Thanksgiving dinner, we exchange presents.
Several people asked if we exchanged gifts after Thanksgiving dinner and each time I was asked, I said no and was slumped why they would think that presents are vital to Thanksgiving. At first, I thought maybe they were getting American Christmas and Thanksgiving traditions confused from what they see in US films and television. However, after some further questioning, they simply explained that with name of "Thanksgiving," they figured the name referred to the giving of gifts and giving thanks in return. Despite being incorrect, I thought their conclusions did make sense if you hadn't had the whole pilgrims-and-Native-Americans story drilled into your brain for most of your childhood.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the tale of (American) Thanksgiving, it begins with pilgrims from England fleeing to what was then the colonies to avoid persecution. However, once they arrived in Plymouth Rock, the pilgrims had no idea how to grow food and survive in the colonies. As an act of kindness, the Native Americans living nearby at the time taught them how to grow food successfully in their new home. As the tale has it, at the end of the first harvest, all the pilgrims and Native Americans gathered together for a big feast to celebrate the harvest, thus beginning the story of Thanksgiving.

It must be noted though that Thanksgiving wasn't recognized as a national holiday officially until 1863 when Abraham Lincoln announced his Thanksgiving Proclamation, which declared the last Thursday of November as Thanksgiving Day. However, in 1941, Thanksgiving was officially moved to the third day of Thanksgiving in hopes that lengthening the Christmas season would boost the economy.

And as for the term, "Thanksgiving," it supposedly refers to the pilgrims giving thanks to the Native Americans for helping them out with their crops.

Anyways, that's enough history (or at least, fabled history), for now. Here's a picture a friend sent to me that I think perfectly sums up what I think is key to any Thanksgiving (along with family and friends)....

Eating!

*Not #1: Yes, I do know Canadians have Thanksgiving too, along with a few other places. But for this message of this post, Canadian Thanksgiving (and the others) are irrelevant. I hope I didn't offend any Canadians out there.

*Note #2: I also do know that the whole Native American-pilgrims/Native Americans-colonists relationship is not as cheery as the Thanksgiving story suggests. However, for the sake of being concise and not opening a whole other can of worms, we'll just put those facts aside.

Huh? Where's the water?

Yep, the water's out in my dorm. I figured this when I was cooking my dinner, which was about an hour ago. It would've been nice though if they actually said something to those of us living here, though.

Never mind, according to the front desk, the water should be back on by 7. In reality, though, that may actually mean 8:30. Stay tuned to see what happens...

Update: The water is back on (and it's 4 minutes to 7) but it's got a brownish-reddish tint to it...lovely. 

Update #2: After running the water straight for about an hour (maybe more), the water finally seems to be running clear again, I think. Or maybe I'm just desperate for a shower....

Tensions on the Korean Pennisula

Just in case you've been living under a rock (or haven't been paying attention to international news), yesterday North Korea shelled a small South Korean island that lies in a disputed marine area off the eastern Korean shoreline. As a result, the tensions between South and North Korea have once again heightened.

Many of the Korean students here are very concerned about the current "crisis status" (as the South Korean government calls it) on the Korean peninsula. Since all of age South Korean males are required by law to serve at least two years in the military, many are afraid that if the situation does escalate, they would all be recalled back to South Korea to resume their military service. (Most, if not all of the Korean male students have already completed their mandatory two, if not more, years of service.)

Personally, I highly doubt that the tensions will escalate to anything further. Every year or every few months, it seems like North Korea launches some sort of "attack" on South Korea and tensions escalate for a while but then die down to their normal level of tension. Also from an international perspective, it would be an unwise move on North Korea's part to try to escalate the tensions considering South Korea has the backing of the western powers, including the United States; while China, who historically has backed North Korea, seems hesitant to back North Korea for fear of hurting it's relations with the United States and other Western countries.

Hopefully, though, I will not live to regret that last paragraph.

For more information about the situation on the Korean pennisula, take a look at some of these links:
'Crisis Status' in South Korea After North Shells Island (NYTimes)
China Faces a Nettlesome Neighbor in N. Korea (NYTimes)
Two Koreas Exchange Fire (China Daily)
China calls for restraint from DPRK and ROK (China Daily)
US and S.Korea to Hold War Games (Al Jazeera English)
World reacts to Korea Clashes (Al Jazeera English)

Sorry for the link overload, but if my classes at NYU taught me nothing else, I did learn that the news source is just as important (or sometimes, even more important) than the news itself. 

Fragrant Hills

The week before last, after midterms were over, I went to Fragrant Hills Park (香山公园) with some friends. This park on the outskirts of Beijing is a popular destination in the fall for many people since it's a great place to see the fall colors.

Unfortunately for us though, the strong winds of the week before had blown most of the leaves off the trees. Nevertheless, it was nice to be out of the city and walking amongst trees instead of buildings for a change.

Since many of the pictures I took of things didn't turn out particularly well this time, here are some pictures of people. For those of you who've been complaining that there are no pictures of me on this blog...here you go. Click to enlarge the image, if you must.

Emilia & I

(Left-right) Me, Stephanie, Christine,
Emilia & Irene

(Left-right, top-bottom) Beichuan, Emilia, Paul, Yandi, Irene,
Christine, me, Arvin

(Left-right) Yandi, Arvin, Beichuan

(Left to right) Emilia, Paul, me, Christine & Irene

(Left-right) Arvin, Beihcuan, Yandi, Paul, me, Christine,
Emilia, Stephanie & Irene

Special Thanks to Yandi Santosa for many of these photos. 

Disclaimer: If I spelled your name wrong in the captions, I'm sincerely sorry. Let me know and I'll make the necessary changes.

Classes & classmates

Looking back at my blog posts to date, I realized I haven't really mentioned much (or really, anything at all) about my classes here at BNU. Seeing as that I came here to study Mandarin, it's high time that I enlighten you about my academic life here, since up until now it's been a bit of a mystery.

From Monday through Friday, I have class everyday. My three classes here are Mandarin intensive reading （精读）, conversation （会话） and listening （听力）, each of which meet three times a week for roughly an hour and half each time. On top of that, I have an additional class on Fridays that basically acts office hours where I can ask my head teacher (my intensive reading teacher), any questions I have concerning class material or Mandarin in general. All in all, it adds up to approximately 18 hours of class a week.

Unlike in the United States where each one of my classes is with different people, here at BNU everyone in my class remains the same except the teacher. The only exception to this is my conversation class, which also includes three students from the 101 (level 2) class.

For the most part, ensuring that our classmates remain the same in every class really helps our learning process. It allows us to become comfortable enough with each other so that when we mistakes it's no big deal. However, on the flip side, there's often a lot of chatter going on during class time since we all know each other pretty well now, and this sometimes can be obnoxious.

Regardless, meeting new people from all around the world is always the best part of studying abroad in an international program, whether it be here in Beijing or in Paris. According to my teacher (and reinforced my my own personal observation), the program here at BNU is overwhelmingly dominated by Korean students, followed closely by Japanese students. However in the last few years, the program has seen an increasing number of students from Indonesia and Thailand.

In my class, half of the students are Indonesian. The rest of us come from Thailand, Sweden, Japan, the UK, Botswana, Vietnam, Kyrgyzstan, and the US. Despite Koreans making up the majority of BNU's international program, my class only has one student from South Korea. I'm also the only one with an American passport, although Tom, who's English, now calls the United States (North Carolina) home as well.

Now for some photos of my classmates from the classroom and around Beijing:

My class with our listening teacher

(Top-bottom, left-right) Robin, Jessica, Emilia, Tom, Janar

 

(Left-right) Teddy, Janar, O, Jane and I at Hongluo Si

(Left-right) Emilia, me, Christine, and Irene
at Xiangshan

Special thanks to Florensia "Gina" Regina , Jessica Lee and Yandi Santosa for the photos.

Hongluo Temple

Last month's BNU-organized student outing was to Hongluo Temple (红螺寺), located in the outskirts of Beijing's Huairou district at the foot of Hongluo Mountain. It is the largest Buddhist temple in Northern China. Many people like to visit Hongluo Temple in the fall when the leaves turn red, yellow and orange. Unfortunately for us, our excursion was too early in the fall season so many of the leaves were still green.

For more information on Hongluo Temple: http://www.chinatravel.com/beijing/attraction/hongluo-temple/

BNU: Home of the US 2008 Olympic Team

You know what I found out this weekend? BNU's gymnasium was the training center for the United States 2008 Olympic team for the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

Yes, that means Michael Phelps swam at the same pool I swim in every week, among many other notable Olympian swimmers. Pretty cool, huh?

(This explains why the gym here at BNU is so nice and why they have a long-course--50 meter--pool instead of the normal 25 meter pool.)

Picture courtesy of: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25937455/

For more information about the BNU gym & the 2008 Olympics: http://www.bjreview.com.cn/olympic/txt/2008-07/31/content_137510.htm

Midterms, midterms, midterms

...yep, It's midterm week for me at BNU. Until I'm done with midterms, no new blog posts for you. Sorry.

I'm off to memorize a million (okay...more like a couple hundred) vocab words.

Wish me luck.

The Gender Divide

Before coming to China, I never really considered myself a feminist. Sure, I believe that women are equal to men and (for the most part), whatever a man can do, a woman can do just as well. But this hardly qualifies me to declare myself an adamant feminist, at least in my opinion. Instead, I'd say my perspective on is quite the norm for many people living in the 21st century. 

Coming to China, though, has made me re-think how "normal" my perspectives on gender really is. Now before you get the wrong idea, I'm not saying that Chinese people or the people I've met here in Beijing are sexist and don't believe women should be in the workplace because that's not what I'm saying. It's just that here in China, and with many of the people I've met here, there's still a concept of inherently male & female things and activities.

Take smoking, for instance. In the United States, if you're a female smoker, for the most part, you're not treated or viewed differently from a male smoker. Smoking is an equal opportunity activity (to kill yourself). But here in China, where smoking exponentially more common, the majority of smokers are male. I'd say, from my personal observations at BNU, male smokers probably out-number the female smokers 10 to 1, perhaps even more. In addition, while a male smoker elicits no response from passerbys, a female smoker elicits looks of shock, disapproval or disgust (not that I know form personal experience since I do not smoke). As one of my Chinese friends explained to me, males smoking here in China is considered the norm, but a female smoking is considered trashy.

Example #2: At the beginning of my time here in Beijing, I was speaking to one of my (male) classmates, Robin, about what I like to do with my free time and the topic of shopping came up. Robin was shocked to learn that I wasn't particularly fond of shopping and in response said something along the lines of, "Don't all girls love shopping?" Jokingly, I retorted back at him saying, "I bet you like shopping more than I do. You look like the kind of guy that likes to shop." He, in return, was quick to say that he didn't like shopping either and that shopping was a woman's activity.

Example #3: The a week or two ago at lunch, the concept of a housewife came up in conversation. Prior to our lunch, we had our conversation class in which we learned vocabulary concerning our parents' professions and one of the words we learned was the Mandarin term for a housewife (which I've since forgotten). That day at lunch, I said that I didn't want just to be someone's housewife later in life, at which point several of my classmates looked quite surprised. Their shocked looks in return shocked me. Considering it's 2010 and several of my classmates at this particular lunch were (college-educated) females as well, I hardly thought my declaration was in any way surprising. But apparently, it was.

(Disclaimer: It must be noted in the above scenario, something might've been lost in translation or perhaps a housewife is a very respected position in their home countries. I don't know and I don't mean to portray my classmates in a negative light, I'm just telling you about what happened from my personal perspective.)

Now before I get ahead of myself, I am not saying that we've completely erased gender differences in the United States; that's hardly the case. But distinguishing boundary between what belongs in the so-called female sphere versus the male sphere is much more blurry. Sure many girls like shopping in the United States, but so do many guys. Nor is a female smoker considered any different from a male one.

Likewise, chivalry, at least in my experience, is largely a thought of yesteryear in the United States. Perhaps it's just the people I keep company with but from my experience with my male friends, they rarely, if ever, hold the door open for me or offer to help me with my books*. In fact, a while back I commented to one of my friends in the United States that, "You know chivalry is dead when you feel oddly uncomfortable when a guy opens a door for you." However, here in China the idea of chivalry still prevails. It's pretty common to see males carrying their female friend's or girlfriend's books and/or purses for them.

Not that I'm really one to complain about a lack of "chivalry," since I've always been the type of independent person that much rather take care of herself, include matters concerning opening doors and the such. But the fact that I don't expect (nor really feel comfortable with) such gestures is pretty indicative just blurred or perhaps almost completely nonexistent traditional gender roles are in the United States.

Of course, I don't mean to say that the American concept of gender roles (or lack thereof) is any more correct or better than the more traditional concepts of gender here in China. Personally, I'm more accustomed and prefer the American perspective on gender and gender equality, but since I was raised in the United States, that's hardly surprising. However, I also realize that there are many people who prefer maintaining the more traditional roles intact. Neither of us are wrong for the most part, it's just different and learning to accept the differences in culture is half the battle when you're living abroad.

So on that note, I'm going to end this very long, slightly rambling blog. Enjoy the photo below.

*To my male friends back at home: don't take that statement as poor reflection on yourselves. I like our friendships the way they are. 

Retirees relaxing and flying kites at Ritan Park. Notice none of the retirees are female.

Don't they look so happy?

Nujie Mosque

Despite my personal conflicted opinions on religion, religious structures fascinate me. I've been very fortunate to see many different religious structures through my travels but most of them have been of the temple, church or cathedral variety. I've visited very few synagogues and mosques. So upon realizing there is a mosque in Beijing dating back to the 10th century, I was more than eager to go see it for myself.

The Nujie Mosque (also known as the Cow Street Mosque) is located in the Xuanwu district of Beijing, in the southern portion of Beijing. From the exterior, the mosque could pass just another old Chinese temple. But upon on closer inspection, you can see Muslim influences on the decor, including Arabic writing on the beams. Inside the prayer hall is a completely different story. From what I could see (I am not allowed in since I'm not Muslim), the interiors are elaborately decorated in a much more Islamic manner with gold Arabic writing covering the arches.

For those of you who are wondering, Islam has been present in China since the 7th century. Nowadays, there is an estimated 20 million Muslims in China, most of which are concentrated in western China. The largest Muslim minority group in China are the Hui people, who are often easily recognized by their characteristic white hats and beards.

The area surrounding the mosque is also primarily inhabited by Chinese Muslims. There are many Muslim shops and restaurants nearby.

To enter the mosque, unless you are Muslim, you must pay a 10 RMB entrance fee. However for some reason or another (maybe because it was already 4:30 PM), the man who sold me the ticket only charged me  5 RMB. He told me why but because his regional accent was very thick and he spoke quickly, I didn't catch the reason.

The mosque itself isn't very large. It's enclosed from the rest of the city by stone walls, making it a very serene environment. Inside the courtyard, several old men sat in front the prayer hall passing time and chatting. They were very kind and asked me where I was from and I explained in return that I am from the United States but currently studying at BNU.

Since I arrived around 4:30 in the afternoon, I was luckily enough to witness the 4:45 (sunset?) call to prayer (salat). In the past, I have known and lived with Muslims, so I am familiar with their ritual prayer but I never before witnessed an actual call to prayer at a mosque.

Around 4:45, a bell rang announcing it was time to pray. All the older men that had previously been sitting the courtyard took off their shoes, and scurried into the prayer hall while the Imam sang out from the courtyard for people to come pray. After he finished the song, the Imam walked to the front of the prayer hall, he led the men into prayer (the women pray in a separate hall).

Personally, I do not believe in religion, so naturally I do not pray. Despite this, I found observing the men pray very calming and honorable. It's definitely admirable that five times a day, these men are able to put aside whatever other thoughts they may have and focus solely on the act of prayer. I'm not sure if I have the concentration to do that.

In the United States and also in Europe, Isalm has been a big point of contention, especially within the last ten years. In the United States at least, I'm ashamed to say that many people are fearful of Islam and Muslims for no real reason at all. Even trying to build a mosque in the United States seems near impossible. Someday hopefully this will change.

 

Old men in the courtyard passing time

Imam singing out the call to prayer

Side note: Religion in China is still a very complicated issue. At BNU, we're often to reminded that it's best to only practice religion in areas designated to practice religion, e.g. a church or a mosque.

On my way to the 798 Space: a mini-adventure

On Tuesday, I set out to check out Beijing's 798 Space, an art district in the outskirts of Beijing. But before I tell you all about 798, I have to tell you about my journey over to 798. Because, as the saying goes, the journey is half the battle.

As I mentioned previously, 798 is located in the outskirts of Beijing, just north of the Fourth Ring Road. Since there isn't a direct way to get out to 798 solely using the subway, I looked on Google Maps for a good bus route(s) to take out there from BNU. Dutifully, Google Maps quickly spit out directions that seemed to coincide with the directions on the 798 website and I, of course, not knowing any better followed them.

But, as I'm sure you've guessed by now, those directions were not correct. According to the directions and map, the stop I was instructed to get off at would place me directly at the entrance to 798. Wrong. Very wrong. You know where I ended up instead? On a paved road that had  a dirt sidewalk on one side and a walled field around it on the other; in other words..it almost looked like the countryside. Definitely not where I wanted to be*.

After a few minutes of deliberation with myself and tentative walking around to make sure I really was in the wrong area, I decided to go ask the receptionist at a business hotel that luckily for me was located at the bust stop I had gotten off at. I have no idea what a business hotel (let alone a nice business hotel) was doing there all the way outside of the city, but nevertheless the receptionist was very kind when I asked her for directions (in Mandarin!).

As it turns out, I had completely overshot the 798 Space. In fact, I was so far that I couldn't even walk to it. I had to take a different bus back the way I came for roughly 10-15 minutes. (Needless to say, there isn't a dirt sidewalk over by 798; it's paved.)

All I have to say is, thanks, Google Maps; you were always so reliable before, but this time, you led me way astray. I don't appreciate that.

Regardless, I did eventually get to 798 after that little detour and it was definitely worth it. Using the abandon East German electronic factories from the 1950's, Bejing's contemporary art community has re-claimed the factories and turned them into various art galleries, cafes and stores. Since the factory workshops are sufficiently large, they are perfect for displaying art and large scale multimedia installations.

In some ways, 798 greatly reminded me of Brooklyn and Oakland/Emeryville, where many old warehouses have been converted into artist work-live lofts, among other uses. The space is also seemed very contained and separate from the bustling city that surrounded it; much like how Brooklyn always seems calmer than Manhattan.

Even the most of the other visitors of 798 seemed like they belonged in Brooklyn or Oakland. They all were young, like me, hip and interested in contemporary art and culture. It's the type of place I know a lot of my friends from home & New York would love.

Overall, it was a great outing for that day and I'll definitely be returning to 798 again (but not that dirt sidewalk place). And I have to say, I'm a proud of myself for figuring out how to go to my original destination, despite having completely misleading directions.

Here are some photos from 798. I should've taken one of the bus stop I got off when I was lost, but I didn't think of it at the time. Sorry!

I'm not convinced the Italian(?) here actually means what it says in English & Chinese, but I like the sentiment. 

 I'm not exactly sure why the Chinese military acts as security here. Maybe 798 lies right outside of Beijing Security's jurisdiction. Either way, this guy doesn't seem to be doing much. 

For more info about the 798 Space: http://www.798space.com/index_en.asp

*Note: For those of you concerned with my safety, rest assured that this detour occurred around noon on a sunny day and despite the country-esque surroundings, there were other people and cars around. I was in no danger whatsoever.