Day 72 – Beijing

Nov 8th

Tragedy
We woke up early for breakfast at the guesthouse. To everyone’s disappointment it was purely Chinese: bok choy, warm milk, fish soup, sliced meats, doughy balls, breads and noodles. I ordered “apple vinegar” which I assumed was a mistranslation for apple juice, but it really turned out to be apple flavored vinegar. Pretty gross! We then all boarded the bus to be meet by a somber faced Neil (our trip leader) holding a disheartening letter from the Dean of Students. He asked for everyone’s silence as he shared that Kurt Leswing, a fellow SAS student, was struck by a car in Hong Kong yesterday and died at the scene. Some students burst out in tears, since they knew him well. Others sat with puzzled faces as they tried to scan their memories for any recognition of his name. This sounds so pathetic, but without Facebook we are a lot worse at IDing names with faces than at home. The rest of the bus ride was spent in near silence as everyone contemplated this huge tragedy to the shipboard community.

The Great Wall
We pulled up to the Juyongguan section of the Great Wall to find it weaving and wining up the country hills. My first thought was: “This was built for tourists.” The Wall itself was in nearly perfect condition (except for etched graffiti) and cement, which I’m pretty sure they didn’t have back then, securely held the blocks together. While it was definitely a big wall, I have no doubt that the Monguhals could have easily climbed over it (since we did later on). The entire process of climbing it was like being on a giant stair stepper. Perhaps the ninjas were a better defense, since the wall seemed to do not much more than keep the rabbits out. Cassidy and I had a great time running around taking pictures: of us with 20 Asians (who all jumped into our picture simultaneously), of us in a sombrero and Russian hat that they sell on the wall (?) and of us shot gunning a beer in celebration when we made it to the top. With little time to make the bus on the way down, I once again demonstrated the ingenuity of the human race by finding my way off the wall and around a huge bottleneck of people to climb back up the wall farther down. People were truly freaked out when they saw my hands clawing over the top of the wall as I pulled myself up. “I’m just testing the Great Defense theory,” I announced and started sprinting for the bus. Cassidy had a little more trouble, as she dropped her camera and saw it roll a few yards down the hill. (John leaped to the rescue to save it.) Before boarding the bus, Cas and I took a picture of our tight gluts to commemorate the climb.

Si We Restaurant
We stopped for lunch at the Si We Restaurant. Once again we eat on the smallest plates I have ever seen along with chalices the size of my finger. We had a nice family style selection in front of us that included mostly fish dishes, like shrimp cakes, crab meat and fish ball soup. We also had green veggie shoots, spicy beef strips, something we think was chicken and more veggies. Afterwards, Cory and I got the tiniest scoop of gelato outside before walking around the Friendship store to check out their goodies. While browsing a collection of vibrant Chinese vases, Corrine approached us to ask about our gelato. We went on to tell her where we got it and how it was made of Panda extract. She actually believed us and thought it was super cool, but weird that they would make things from endangered animals. From a distance, we saw her enthusiastically buy and enjoy some real Panda extract gelato! (I still don’t know if she knows the truth.)

Giant Pandas!
For the afternoon, we visited the Giant Pandas at the Beijing Botanical Gardens and Zoo. They were huge and adorable. All I wanted to do was snuggle them. There were tons of them too--many more than I expected. I even found one sleeping upside down the way Sidney sleeps at home. On the way out there was a gift shop (obviously). Most students emerged with one or two items of panda gear. Cassidy, on the other hand, emerged with slippers, gloves, a hat and an umbrella. She looked completely consumed in her things. I almost thought one of the pandas escaped from their cages.

Awkward Encounters
Afterward we headed to the Tsinghua University park to awkwardly walk up to basketball and volleyball games to play with students. We played from volleyball then went for campus tour. Cassidy, Kyle, Julie and I decided to head off on our own to explore the nearby buildings. We found a bowling alley, a hair salon, the campus store and various dorms. Unfortunately, we never found where they play beer pong, but I don’t really think they do that in China. After reconvening with the group, we headed to the university cafeteria for dinner with other students. It was a large buffet style meal of mostly unmarked items. I headed up sampling the white rice, chicken in gooey sauce, corn/carrots with scrimp, bok choy and meat dumplings. I sat with another Chinese student, who was a financial engineer and wanted to eventually go to the US to study for his masters. He had never been outside his hometown besides studying in Beijing. It was really interesting talking to him, and I helped him with any questions I could about studying in America. Before heading back to the bus, we each tried “cream” ice cream that really tasted like a popcorn jelly belly, but he really seemed to enjoy them.

Out for the Night
We all made it back to the guesthouse for a quick power nap, refreshing shower and prep time for the night. A bunch of us girls congregated in Cassidy’s room 112 to enjoy “Great Wall” wine and gussy up for the night. Of course, the boys, headed by Spencer and Cory, ended up crashing the party and tearing us away from our vanity to take us out to the Banana Club in the Chaoyang District. The Club was a spectacular feature in itself. The architecture and walls were creatively twisted in different was. Lights covered every possible surface from ceilings and walls to table tops and the floor. Even the dance floor was a large mechanical stage that bounced up and down. The best part of the night, however, was when a male transvestite emerged from a hole in the floor in stilettos shoes I could never be woman enough to pull off.

Highs and Lows
My “high” was convincing Corrine gelato can be made of Panda extract. My “low” was feeling like I was in middle school gym class again.