Beijing Day 3 and Homebound

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On the last day of being in Beijing, we started off our day by visiting the Bird’s Nest; the Olympic stadium that housed the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Building for the most part is exactly what it seems like on TV. It was still really cool to be there and I enjoyed seeing the stadium.

The better part of being in Olympic Park was seeing the Water Cube. The building was cooler to be in than the bird’s nest. The inside had eateries (I had way too much ice cream), a water park, and the pools of the Olympics. One of the pools you can swim in so a lot of our group went there. It was really something inside. Would like to know if the water park was there during the Olympics, because it is a gigantic park; there are 5-story slides and a huge water-dumping bucket.

After the Water cube, we went to the Temple of Heaven. This is a major landmark of Beijing but by this time we were very tired and worn out. I had had 4 hours of sleep after climbing the entire Great Wall section we visited, and we had been up and around all day. Not to mention we had been tourists for a while now and it was wearing down on me. I made my way through the temple and we ended up going back to the hotel.

But as tired as I was I never took a nap. We got back and took 15 minutes before four of us headed to a big mall a few minutes from the hotel. The weirdest part had to be the skating rink that was in the bottom and center of the mall. They had a Zamboni that was going over the ice. There was a Cold Stone Creamery, which was fantastic. Cheesecake, snickers, and M&M’s were a good combination. We went back to the hotel, which was another good time to nap that I squandered on going to a street vender that sold very legitimate DVD’s.

After this, I got an even greater idea. Instead of starting to pack for our flight back, I decided to try to take the subway to see Tiananmen Square and Olympic park at night. Incidentally that night was the celebration of the 90th birthday of the Communist Party. So I got a group to go with and we headed to the subway station. By the time we got to the Square the party was over and it was closed off. This is where the story gets worse. We headed back to the subway station to find that it was closed. Apparently the station closes at 11:32. So we are wondering how we were going to get beck. We try the cabs and find that the first two that we could find, which were probably the only two free cabs in the area out of 50. At this point its around 12:15 and we cant get a ride bask to the hotel to be packed and ready to go at 3:30. There was definitely the moment of who knows whether we were going to make our flight or not. It was a toss up. We walked for a couple miles and after two more unsuccessful attempts at a cab obtained the cab to take us back. We got back and decided to meet up after we were packed and ready so we could hang out and not fall asleep. I finished packing very quickly and ended up taking a glorious bubble bath.

At 3:45, the bus was on the way to the airport. I was still running on the 4 hours I had gotten the night before which surprises me as to how I was able to get on the airplane without passing out. After boarding it took a few minutes before I was already nodding off. Al in all I got 3 or 4 hours on the flight over to Chicago. The 29th of June, 2011 has probably been the longest day in my life.

So now is the time for wrap up and conclusion of my first time abroad in China. I am on the last plane home after making sure that I have a ride out of Raleigh. I think the most lasting impression that I have of China is that I need to go back. This was by no stretch of the imagination the last trip to Mao’s homeland. It was absolutely incredible seeing how an entire society thinks differently and similarly in ways that you would not assume, and how these things contribute to that society’s culture and being. The most impressive part of China, to me, was the size in which things were done. There are many things that are done there that have to be done with so many more people than in America. No better cultural learning experience exists than that of studying abroad in a country that has very few roots from your own country. Thus, there have been things that I have learned about America as well as China, if nothing else than by comparison. This has had to be the most shocking, disturbing, wonderful, awakening, and energizing experience that I have ever had. And I know that I have only scratched the surface of what it means to be Chinese. I still get ideas that keep me up and make me reconsider what I think is normal or strange. There are more questions now than ever before but I would not trade it for anything. The country of China and its people are both vast and impossible to simply explain. I hope that when I can fully learn how to live from my work and be able to become self-sufficient that I am able to live in China. That is one of my main regrets, no being able to really have to use the resources available to me and live as the Chinese do. My return has to include me knowing much more of the language and being able to cook for my self, work, and do all of the things that are included in independent living. This to me has become much more of a goal this year. I am living I an apartment that wil give me the ability to take on more personal responsibility than I have had in the past and become much more of a productive of able citizen. All-in-all, this has been an amazing experience that through trial and tribulation has given me more than I could have ever wished for.

I hope that you have enjoyed reading my posts and that I haven’t rambled on too long. This will not be my last journey abroad nor will it be my last experience with an unknown culture. This will most likely be the last post of mine for a while, probably around a year or so. But even this I cannot say because as you know life throws you curveballs for the better or worse. Until my next…

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Photos

CCP Display
This is the main display of the anniversary of the founding of the CCP in Tiananmen Square.