Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Hello again, last blog I told you about the beginning of my time in Beijing but I didn't write much as it was so hectic. Well the next 5 days were even busier! Instead of going day by day I'll just fill in some of the events...
Firstly we moved out of the youth hostel and in with host families. My host family was absolutley great. About two minutes from Beijing Number 50 Middle School the apartment we were in was 5 floors up overlooking a very busy cross roads. The father of my partner was a laywer and would get up very early in the morning to go off to work (and woulkd come back seemingly very late). As the clothes were dried in the room I was in (I think the fathers room) I often was awoken to see a semi-naked Chinese man at the end of my bed at god-knows-what-time in the morning. Still, he always smiled and said something in Chinese, so I think he had good intentions. He was quite reserved and spoke absolutly no English. Although on the last day he had learnt to say 'you stay or family here whenever want' which I take to be positive. My partner was really nice aswell, although his English was also not great, often he would just respond 'yeeeeah' to my questions, or on several occasions just completely ignore me. But he was really kind and was always looking out for me. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention he was about 6ft 7. I think he got more stares than I did in the street, so not such a typical family afterall! There seemed to be no mother, although there were pictures of a lady on the wall. The food was fantastic (although I ate out everynight but one). Oh the boy also ate a chicken fetus infront of me. I am pleased to say I have only turned down one food in China and that was the fateful chicken fetus eating morning. Shuders. One other note is that I got to experience a genuine Chinese toilet and shower. I won't go into details, just to say if anyone has seen Matilida the 'chocky' comes to mind...
Now in the mornings we had a language course in Beijing no. 50. The lady tried her best and we were given a free Chinese language book, so thats something. Other than that there was alot of chanting 'zh, ch, sh' and shaping our mouths. The lessons were good for pronounciation but the slow down in pace compared to our other days in Beijing was quite the shock.
In the afternoons we did various 'cultural activities' (or we continued to play the tourist). Now for the life of me I can't remember the order, so I'm going to make it up.
One afternoon we visted the Forbidden City, accompanied by one of Mike's friends (our PT representative who was with us for most of our time in Beijing) called Luke. He is doing a PhD in Chinese history and does tours around the Forbidden City for money so he knew what he was talking about. Now I absolutly loved the forbidden city, yet other volunteers not so much. Let's just say when the government gutted it after the civil war, they did a really good job. The best apart about the trip was climbing up to the temple overseeing the city and looking down upon it all.
Another night we went to 798. Now this was the greatest surprise of Beijing (yes even above the delights chocky bathroom). So 798 (most likely google-able, I wouldn't know) is Beijings art district, built in and around former muntions factories there is some amazing free galleries. Now I'm not one for art, at all, but this place is absolutly facinating. I would reccommend it above the wall, tianamin or the forbidden city. I am definitly going back. In fact the art district tipped Beijing into my top 2 cities (prizes for anyone that can name number one). I will leave some of the highlights of 798 for people to discover themselves (get yourself to Beijing!).
And another night (see what I mean about being busy!) we visted both the Heavenly temple and the Pearl Market. So the Heavenly temple is lovely, especially on the beautiful day we went (see pictures). However it isn't really the heavenly temple. It is, like many Chinese attractions, only a couple of decades old. The government has rebuilt the temple for whatever reason. It is also very touristy, it felt even worse than the great wall for sheer number of Americans. However there are some interesting parts, such as the fantastic symmetry and the rock which succsesive Emperors stood on to pray to the Gods for a good harvest. After that it was onto the Pearl Market, where all manners of tack can be bought. I bought myself some, in the form of a Silk Jacket (haggled from 860 yuan to 100).
One afternoon we went to Peking University (called the Cambridge of China) and wondered around the lake. It was a really beautiful place and quite the contract to the hustle and bustle of ordinary Beijing. There we had a talk (organised again by Mike) with Sophie. She works for an NGO (non-governmental organisation) which is funded in part by the British government (international development) and helps the Chinese government in addressing pollution issues. I talked to her quite a bit after the talk and we both agreed I would take her job when she retired, thats my life sorted.
And I think that is about it for afternoon activities. Now it does all sound very touristy so far, and I suppose it is. But this orientation week (10 days) was really useful for getting used to China and getting ready for spending a year here. Now I can promise you what I did in the evenings was in no way touristy...
Instead of being with my host family (like most volunteers were) and learning to cook Chinese food and so on I was in various hospitals around Beijing. Thankfully never for myself but on both occassions I went with other volunteers for moral support. One volunteer had bowel issues, so I went with him and Mike to get medicine. Then two other volunteers managed to hit their heads (badly) within 20 minutes of each other (one girl walked into a tree and a boy cut his head open on a sign). I went with them to a grand total of two hospitals. Odd things are Chinese hospitals. Drips hanging everywhere, old ladies everywhere and no doctors at all. Anyway they turned out to be quite long nights in hospitals. To keep entertained I taught some of our Chinese partners (equally bored) to march like I did in the Air Cadets, while they taught me how to march like they did in the PLA. Hours of marching around the hospital ensued. I feel like I made a valuable cultural exchange there. I'm happy to report all volunteers I went to hospital are all better now (if not also poorer).
And that just about sums up activities that were had in Beijing. The food (which should really have its own blog) feels out of this world. I've tried Beijing duck, Chinese fast food, noodle bar, hot pot (cook your own food..?), and many astreet seller. And I can honestly say all of them were fantastic.
So on the 30th me and Alex got on a train to spend 40 hours in a very small cabin. I mean, on the 31st we got on the train.
Wait, no we didn't. That was the plan, that is what I had been mentally preparing for. However Mike mixed up the days, so our train left while we were still in bed. The other volunteers managed to get their trains which were slightly later in the day. So we spent another night in Beijing and then got a plane the next day. You know when you are so ready for bad news its kind of a dissapointment when it doesn't arrive? Very much that feeling. Still the plane was brilliant and me and Alex arrived safely in Urumqi to begin our year teaching. And on that bomb shell...
P.s Sorry for the late blog posts. I hope all the events in this blog demonstrate what little time I've had! I would have written my blogs on the train but...
- comments
Jphn Hospital sounds wired...