Since we've been back I have done a lot of random things. We got to teach some of the university students about American holidays. We went to a talent show-type thing where we watched some Kung Fu, and one of my new friends perform a beautiful dance. I decided while in Beijing that I want to start being more adventurous with my eating, so I've tried several new things since we got back including mutton, lotus root, duck blood, and pig intestine. I didn't find any new favorites among those, but none of it was terrible. Honestly, I probably could have eaten more if I hadn't known what it was. I was walking around another campus the other day and I came upon a group of students doing some sort of strange dance with green onions in their hands. They said hello to me, so I stopped to talk to them. Pretty soon they invited me to join them in their dance. Now, if you know me at all you know that I do not dance. Ever. But, I thought why not. So, there I was, green onions in hand, dancing away in the middle of this college campus. One of my favorite things about being here is how much I've been brought out of my comfort zone. I've ended up doing things here that I would never have done at home. It is so freeing to let go and become willing to look like a complete fool for the sake of experiencing another culture! :) I kinda love this place.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
we climbed the great wall, y'all!
Even though we got back from our Beijing trip a little over a week ago, I am still pretty excited about it (as you can probably tell from the title of this post). It was such a great trip! I finally got to climb the Great Wall of China! I was so disappointed that I didn't get to see it the last time I was here, so it was something I really wanted to do this time. We ate Subway on the wall, & then my friends and I did a lovely rendition of "I'll Make a Man Out of You" from Mulan. Instead of walking down, we took the bobsleds down which was really fun. Anyway, we saw lots of historical things (the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, Temple of Heaven), ate lots of food I've missed (Italian, Mexican, Pizza Hut), and did some awesome market shopping (" Hey girl, what do you need? I'll give you a good price!"). We took a 12 1/2 hour train ride back home, which was a little less fun. See, we had planned to get one of the seats with a bed because the train left at 11 pm and got to our city around 11:30 am, so we wanted to sleep on the way. Well, by the time we got our tickets they were sold out so we had to go on the hard seats. I'm pretty sure it was at least 80 degrees, there were 3 (or more) people per seat, the aisle was full of people standing, and the guy in the seat across from us was so drunk he actually fell out of his seat at one point. It was quite the experience. I'll leave it at that. =)
Since we've been back I have done a lot of random things. We got to teach some of the university students about American holidays. We went to a talent show-type thing where we watched some Kung Fu, and one of my new friends perform a beautiful dance. I decided while in Beijing that I want to start being more adventurous with my eating, so I've tried several new things since we got back including mutton, lotus root, duck blood, and pig intestine. I didn't find any new favorites among those, but none of it was terrible. Honestly, I probably could have eaten more if I hadn't known what it was. I was walking around another campus the other day and I came upon a group of students doing some sort of strange dance with green onions in their hands. They said hello to me, so I stopped to talk to them. Pretty soon they invited me to join them in their dance. Now, if you know me at all you know that I do not dance. Ever. But, I thought why not. So, there I was, green onions in hand, dancing away in the middle of this college campus. One of my favorite things about being here is how much I've been brought out of my comfort zone. I've ended up doing things here that I would never have done at home. It is so freeing to let go and become willing to look like a complete fool for the sake of experiencing another culture! :) I kinda love this place.
Since we've been back I have done a lot of random things. We got to teach some of the university students about American holidays. We went to a talent show-type thing where we watched some Kung Fu, and one of my new friends perform a beautiful dance. I decided while in Beijing that I want to start being more adventurous with my eating, so I've tried several new things since we got back including mutton, lotus root, duck blood, and pig intestine. I didn't find any new favorites among those, but none of it was terrible. Honestly, I probably could have eaten more if I hadn't known what it was. I was walking around another campus the other day and I came upon a group of students doing some sort of strange dance with green onions in their hands. They said hello to me, so I stopped to talk to them. Pretty soon they invited me to join them in their dance. Now, if you know me at all you know that I do not dance. Ever. But, I thought why not. So, there I was, green onions in hand, dancing away in the middle of this college campus. One of my favorite things about being here is how much I've been brought out of my comfort zone. I've ended up doing things here that I would never have done at home. It is so freeing to let go and become willing to look like a complete fool for the sake of experiencing another culture! :) I kinda love this place.
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