May 18, 2012
Wow. What a crazy, amazing, exhausting, wonderful day! We
met in the lobby at 9:30 this morning to head to Tiananmen Square and the
Forbidden City. On our way, we stopped
at a little street vendor and got some sort of dumplings for breakfast (an
interesting thing to have for breakfast, but they were really good). We also stopped at a cute little fruit stand
and the Chinese lady running it made bank off of all the fruit we bought. Then
we had a walk and a couple subway rides until we made it to Tiananmen Square.
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| We LOVED this kid! |
Tiananmen Square is literally just a square. It’s a big open place with a pretty flower
garden on one end and then a few monuments on the other side (pictures
obviously to come later). There’s not
much to do there, but it’s a major part of Beijing’s history so it was cool to
go see. I can’t tell you all the details
about what happened there, but there was some kind of major youth protest that
happened there that ended in a brutal massacre.
I need to do more research on it; we just got a quick summary. Seeing the square and monuments was cool, but
the really cool part was the people. Joe
had told us before we got here that we would feel like celebrities in
China. He was right. When we got to the square we all got together
to take a group picture. As soon as we
were all standing there together smiling, there were suddenly cameras taking
pictures of us from every direction.
Then there were people asking to get in our picture with us. We quickly pulled them into our group and put
our arms around them, and they were SO excited! The rest of the time we were
there, we had people creeping pictures of us or asking to take pictures with
us. It was so funny and so much
fun. The girls decided hanging around
Tiananmen Square everyday would be a wonderful way to boost our self
esteem. They just treated us like we
were something sooo special. Loved it!
After Tiananmen Square, we walked across the street to the
Forbidden City. The Forbidden City is
this HUGE palace that the emperor built in lived in in the 13th
Century BC. That place is
RIDICULOUS! It’s more of a city than a
palace. It just goes on forever in every
direction. It’s gorgeous too. Everything is so detailed and…..royal. It really was incredible and even more so
when you think about how long ago it was built.
And it only took them 15 years which seems really short when you look at
the size of that thing. Also, it mostly
reminded me of Mulan the whole time we were there. You know at the end of the movie when the
whole country is at the Emperor’s palace celebrating and then Mulan comes in a
saves China? Yeah, the Forbidden City is
where that happened. It looks just like
it. So cool!
After the Forbidden City, we just walked for a really long
time. We kept being promised food right
around the corner, but it just didn’t happen for a while. As we were walking down the sidewalk, we
passed lots of people begging. That was
an interesting thing to see. Lots of
them were missing limbs or looked like they had been badly burned or something
which was really sad (It also made me think of Slumdog Millionaire when the guy
blinds the kids so they will make more money begging. That made me really sad
too). It’s hard walking past people like
that, but it just makes me that much more grateful for what a blessed life I
have.
We eventually made it to a little restaurant to have some
lunch/dinner. We ordered some kung pao
chicken, rice, and salad which ended up being really good. The best part of that meal was our
waitress. She was this really cute,
smiley little girl who spoke no English and was just totally amused by us. She would just stand off to the side and look
at us with this huge grin. Then she
would just crack up when we tried to talk to her with the minimal amounts of
Chinese that we know. She was adorable.
The place that we found dinner was this long street/shopping
district. On one side is a bunch of
outlet stores, and on the other are tons of orange tents with people selling
all kinds of things….mostly food. It’s
the coolest place. After dinner we spent
a long time wandering around that area.
I am so intrigued by all of the food booths. I love to walk past them just so I can see
what everyone is cooking. Most of it
looks super scary, but it just fascinates me.
We ended our day with a Chinese acrobat show. That was so cool! Those people were crazy
strong and flexible. Unfortunately, I
realized how ridiculously tired I was when I sat down at that show, and ended
up sleeping through most of it. The
parts that I saw were really good though.
When we got back from that, a few of us wandered down our
alley a little bit and Kenzy and I found our first Diet Coke. That was super exciting. Once again, the alley at night seems like it
should be a terrifying place, but I really feel pretty safe. For the most part, Chinese are just good
people plain and simple.
Some sidenotes that I have learned about this culture thus
far:
-There are no such things as lines in China: just
masses. People don’t line up to get on
the subways or to get into an acrobat show, or anything. They just push through in a giant mass.
-Because there is no such thing as lines, there is also no
rule about people who get there first having priority. I was waiting for my turn to scan my subway
card, and I thought I was next in line to go.
No. Another guy pushed his way
right in front of me without a thought.
It was kind of a weird thing to experience. The people who are the best at pushing their
way through are the ones who get priority, not the ones who got there
first. We experienced that at the
acrobat show too. We were all standing
outside a row that we were going to sit in, and waiting our turn to get into
the row and sit down. Then this couple
just pushed right past us and sat in the middle of the row we were sitting
in. It’s not really a big deal, but just
different than what we are used to in the states.
-Apparently, when the Chinese are getting ready to kill a
dog to eat it, the shave the whole thing except the head. We have a dog that is shaved like that in our
alley. It makes us super sad every time
we see him.
-Branden saw a little boy and a little girl just doing their
business right in public when we were at Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden
City today. Apparently that’s
acceptable. We have seen lots of little
kids with pants that are open in the back with their little bums hanging out so
they can just go whenever and wherever they need to.
It’s a totally different world over here, but I am loving
it! 
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