Beijing七天 (Day 7)

Today we all went back to class after a busy weekend. Saturday was the Forbidden City, Summer Palace, and Tiananmen Square trip all packed into one epic day. First we went to the Summer Palace where we rented paddle boats and explored the seas for an hour or so. The views were spectacular as they were all day. We made quite the scene when our boat drifted into another boat manned by American students, while Charlie tried to change boats. All of the Chinese tourists passing by us in their Dragon Boat were loving every minute of it. Other than that incident, all of the non-Western tourists were all over us and wanted us to be in their pictures. I have to say I felt like a celebrity. Throughout the day all of the street sellers were all up in our face trying to sell their bootleg merchandise. My first bargaining experience was a success. I walked away two times and finally knocked the price of the shirt down from 80 kuai to 20 kuai (about $3). Later I found out that a bunch of people were scammed and lost a few hundred kuai. The fake kuai was really hard to distinguish from real kuai...I couldn't even tell the difference. Today one of the kids that got scammed told me he used it on a cab fare and the driver didn't even notice. I guess fake kuai isn't really fake if people take it.

After a great lunch at an ethnic minority restaurant in a massive mall which included a special dance/music interlude involving the ritual of being forced to eat certain foods and drinking whatever was on the table and getting your ear pinched. The comedy of it all came when some vegetarians were forced to eat meat. It was a really good time. Then we were off to the Forbidden City (故宫). As expected, I was blown away by the sheer size of it all. We only were able to see a mere fraction of it and didn't have a chance to see all of the special collections there. Xiao Laoshi was our guide and told us an incredible amount of history. He said that for about 800 years only the Emperor, his workers, and special advisers were allowed in and when they came in they could never leave. A while after we stopped at the Starbucks to check out how ridiculous it was (I was actually surprised that there was no sign and it was a hole in the wall), we made our way to Tiananmen Square. I was pretty scared of saying anything when I saw all of the megaphones, cameras, and listening devices inside every lamppost. Plus the military presence was enormous for a public place. Well, when we finally got back home to Haidian Gym at around 6pm, the sky turned orange and we were caught in a sandstorm! I've never seen anything quite like it. For about 15 minutes I was blinded by sand but somehow made it back.

One story I forgot to talk about earlier...My roommate and I were walking back at night to our room. Getting to the place we live, you walk through an alleyway surrounded by ramshackle shacks. At the hut surrounded by a torn sheet we spotted about 10 people crowded around a TV. It was a scene you could have pulled out of China circa the 1970s. It was pretty incredible to see this in Beijing in the 20th century after all of the economic gains over the last few decades. It's just a reminder that a lot of Chinese people are in poverty and the economic growth over the years hasn't been realized by most.

Well, now all of my pictures so far are up on the link. On the next post, I'll be creating a list of all of the interesting things about China (actually it's going to be a join effort with Alison). One last thing before I dive into my Hanyu homework...Never try to make small talk with waiters in China. Someone who I won't name made the mistake of asking the waiter if her English name really was "Baby." The waiter gave him the dirtiest look I've ever seen in my life.