seekingmygreaterperhaps

My first cultural site in China thus far happened today with a vist to the Summer Palace here in Beijing. And might I begin with it was AMAZING. There were so many colors and it was so elaborate. It did not feel like it was located within city limits either, as the entire thing surrounds a huge lake. I made my steps today, as we walked a ton. It felt so surreal, like guys, I’m in China. And it’s real. I’m really here.

Basically how I felt.

Also it was pouring down rain for the beginning of the rain, slightly raining for the middle of the day, and it finally stopped towards the end. The very first temple we went into was aptly named the Temple of Timely Rain and Extreme Moisture. I do not kid. But, as with traveling, my attitude it often- when am I ever going to be here again, so let’s make the most of it.

The group I’m studying abroad with is really quite fun. They laugh at my jokes, even when they aren’t funny and look out for each other. It’s nice to have someone to take my picture in front of cool stuff too.

Yes I’m a dork and I wear the chest-strap. But focus on the awesome bridge behind me, it’s really old and really cool.

The Summer Palace was filled with tons of people, most of them Asian tour groups. I’m not being stereotypical when I say that they were in tour groups. I can tell because they had matching hats and ponchos. It was quite adorable really. Some of us got captured by small elderly Asian women and had our pictures taken with them. I look like a giant in this photo because the women came up to maybe my mid-chest. (I don’t have it on this post because it’s on my phone… sorrrrrry) One was so short that when she tried to reach around for the hugging pose, she just grabbed my butt. It’s cool. I work out.

I’m pretending to squat… as in squatty potty in front of this gorgeous scene. Don’t ask me to be an adult, please.

Let me take a moment to acknowledge the amazing skills of our guide/ now friend Xiao Yue. She’s the HR person for Beijing Royal School in charge of wrangling our group. Our professor didn’t come with us today to the Palace, but Xiao Yue took us around and had a good attitude the whole time. It was like the roles were reversed- she was the camp counselor, and I was the rowdy teen wanting to have fun. Not gonna lie, we were kind of bad today, and the group did not do a great job of staying together. I suppose adults have a sense of greater autonomy than do adolescents, so we are like, nah, imma do this. We’ve gotta work on that before we go to the Great Wall next week. But we all made it, no worries.

The view from the top of the Summer Palace. It was a really stunning view… but I almost had a heart attack climbing the 8,000,000,000,000 stairs to get to the top. I may be slightly exaggerating. I’m extremely thankful that the rain stopped by this point because I very easily could have slipped and broken my neck on the stone steps. The view was worth it though, right?

It’s hard to fit the majesty in one photo. But it really is quite awesome.

We managed to squeeze an extra hour in on the Palace grounds more than we were supposed to have. I was not so secretly hoping we wouldn’t make it back in time to present our final seminar, but luckily we did. And it went really well. The teachers appeared to eat it up and many stayed later to ask us questions about specific issues. They were given a glossy certificate if they attended all 3 sessions, and many were very happy when they received it. It was like a mini-graduation. I even had the basketball coach try to recruit me to coach the girl’s team and become at teacher at BRS… and he gave me his WeChat info. It’s still up in the air on whether or not he was hitting on me. Sorry Szili. 😉

After our seminar we went to cheer on the BRS basetball team against another international school in Beijing. They had dubstep music going in the background, as well as a seemingly open other half of the gym. Kids were playing pick-up and ping pong while the game was going on. While we were slightly worried about their safety, we jammed out, it was all good.

*picture to come… I can’t with this internet right now.*

Xiao Yue is sitting right next to me. She showed me what the cool kids are doing these days instead of peace signs. It shows a heart. I’m skeptical. Notice the steam.

Tonight we took some of the staff that have been helping us out to a fancy traditional Chinese dinner. It was delicious and I am still full. In the center is a big pot and they put fresh fish in it and broth and light a fire. They infuse yummy spices and other things that make it totally awesome. The trick is that it takes a while to cook and the steam from the pot is intense. Notice I have my hair up and my sweater off in this pic. You may be able to see how sweaty I am. Poor Xiao Yue couldn’t take off her sweatshirt and was fanning herself with napkins. It ended up being an amazing meal, as I have yet to be disappointed. It was the perfect wrap up to our first seminar week at BRS and I’m glad we were able to thank the staff for their hospitality.

Tomorrow is another day, and we take the night train to Xian to see the Terracotta warriors. I may not have wi-fi, so stick around next week for posts about that adventure!