It’s been a busy few days for me as I had a weekend TEFL refresher course 9am- 6.30pm Saturday and Sunday which was really boring but had to be done. By Sunday night a few of us (well, 25 of us) caved and went in search of a pizza hut which apparently was quite near the hotel. I am just so sick of eating rice for every meal. After walking for an hour we still hadn’t found it though and we were all really hungry so we went to hooters which is an American bar and ate there. I had a cheeseburger and fries and I’ve never appreciated a cheeseburger so much in my life, a great end to an otherwise boring weekend.
Today however, was much more exciting as it was tour day. Everyone (over 100 of us) had to meet in the lobby of the hotel at 7.45am and we all got onto coaches which took us to the Ming tombs. I was expecting it to be underground and an actual tomb, but it wasn’t. The Ming Tombs are the final resting place of 13 of the 16 Ming emperors and there is a big courtyard next to the entrance with seating areas with tables and chairs made of stone shaped like elephants which were really cute. The rest wasn’t very impressive, just a large stone with writing on that we didn’t even realise was the tomb until afterwards. As you leave there is a big archway that you are supposed to walk under and say “welcome home” for good luck, which we all did. If I’m honest, it seemed a waste of time going and just something to fill out the day.
The next stop was the Great Wall of China which has definitely been the highlight of my time here in Beijing. I have seen photos and heard about it but they just don’t do it justice. We had two hours to walk along the great wall and we all did but it was so steep and the steps were so uneven and the weather was so hot that a lot of people struggled to get to the top, but the view was amazing. There were check points every so often along the stretch we did selling water and ice creams, which is just what I needed as when I had got to the second beacon I was feeling a bit dizzy and light headed. On my way back down I was pounced on by a group of 5 or 6 Chinese girls aged about 10 who kept pulling my clothes to get me to stand and have my picture taken with them and they kept saying “sister! Sister! Come have photo!” and they all held onto my clothes and arm as I was walking down the steps to the bottom which I don’t think I am ever going to get used to.
We then went to a factory (which was extremely expensive) and there was a restaurant upstairs which we had a really nice lunch at, each table was served dishes between 10 people to share on a lazy Susan, rice, noodles, shredded beef, sweet and sour chicken, carrots and broccoli, battered fish, beef in black bean sauce and other dishes which were all really nice. We then jumped back on the coach and went to the Olympic stadium. I didn’t really understand why it was called the birds nest until I saw it, but unfortunately we couldn’t go inside as it would have cost extra and we only had 30 minutes until the next stop. After the Olympic stadium we were supposed to go to Tiananmen square but we had run out of time and only drove round it, which I was quite pleased about as I wasn’t really interested in it and by this stage we had been walking around since 9am and I was exhausted! We then went for a Peking duck dinner which is definitely the best meal I have had since I got here, duck is one of my favourites and the duck and hoi sin pancakes were delicious. We had no time to sit around though as at 7pm we had to be at the theatre for the Chinese acrobatic show. I had been looking forward to this and it didn't disappoint, at one point there was a man doing stunts on a chair on a platform and each time we thought it couldn't get any better, he bought another chair into his act, resulting on him doing a sort of handstand on 8 chairs which I think everyone around me had held their breath watching as you could see the chairs wobbling as he did it, just absolutely amazing!
After the acrobatic show it was back to the hotel where we were told our placements were ready and up on the board in the hotel. My school placement is in a primary school (which is what I requested) but it is here in Beijing which I am a bit disappointed with as I wanted to be in the south where I could explore different places. I am not too bothered though as I am sure it is easy to get around to explore more of China. There are people really unhappy with their placements though and lots of girls crying about not being with the age group or area that they wanted. We are signing our contracts tomorrow so that is exciting, other than that I have a day off and I am planning on catching up on some sleep!
More Photos here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/66580104@N06/sets/72157627501457066/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/66580104@N06/sets/72157627501450682/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/66580104@N06/sets/72157627501443552/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/66580104@N06/sets/72157627501439166/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/66580104@N06/sets/72157627501435780/
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