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Published: September 26th 2015
My tattoo
It reads 1996 2 25. This date is very special to me because it is my adoption date. The idea is that I wanted to mix the Chinese influence of the name stamp (印章 yìnzhāng) with the Western influence of the Arabic numerals (traditional Chinese numbers look very different).Hey everyone!
I guess I should start off with saying that the most interesting part of my week was getting a tattoo. Yep, a real tattoo. I've been planning on getting this tattoo for a little over a year now, so it wasn't a on-the-spot thing at all, but I had been originally planning to wait until after graduation to get any tattoos. Yeah, that didn't quite work out. It started when Ian mentioned that he wanted to get a tattoo (紋身 wénshēn) while in China. I thought about it, and figured China would be as good a place as any to get my tattoo, since the style I wanted is originally Chinese (see picture). So on Tuesday Ian and I went to a couple of nearby tattoo shops to inquire about prices/safety with one of his teachers from the summer. Since she speaks both English and Chinese, Ian had asked her to come and help us translate. We found a shop where the artists were excited about our ideas and where the safety standards were up to par (they had autoclaves in sight, a sharps needle disposal box, and the needles were all individually packaged and single-use). Due to
money and time constraints, we made plans to return on Thursday to figure out the designs, and then planned to schedule the actual appointment after a week-long trip our program is going on. Well, when we went in on Thursday, we found out that the artists were planning on doing the actual tattoos that day (even with a translator, things were apparently misunderstood). Ian was like "let's do it," and so we did. It didn't hurt nearly as much as I was expecting - granted I got mine in a pretty painless location - and mine only took about an hour. Ian's, on the other hand, took around four, and he started after I did, as his artist was still finishing up final touches when I was starting. So far it doesn't hurt much; in fact, I will forget about it until I move in a way that stretches it a little. So yeah, now I have a tattoo guys! Let me know what you all think!
In terms of program stuff, on Friday we had a field trip to the Yonghe Temple (雍和宮), also known as the Yonghe Lamasery (the first time we heard the name, we were
all picturing a temple of llamas. In all honesty, I still picture a temple of llamas when I hear it). This is a Tibetan Buddhist temple and monastery that was originally an imperial palace, and was both beautiful and functional. In the entrance, you could get a free box of incense to use to pray/pay respects to the various buddhas. In front of each of the various temple halls is a setup including a small metal box with a candle, a larger metal box with ashes, and a raised kneeling bench in front of all that. First, you take three sticks of incense and light them using the candle. Next, you stand in front of the temple and raise the incense to your forehead, elbows out. This is when you make your wish/prayer/pay your respects. Once you are finished, you bow three times, with the incense still at your forehead. After that, you repeat the process while kneeling on the bench, finishing with three bows in that position. Once you have completed all of this, you take the incense and stick it burning side up into the ashes of previous sticks of incense. Jude, Chris, Ian, and I all went
through this process at each of the halls we came across throughout the lamasery. I believe that even if it is just paying your respects to this religion that is very different from what we typically see in the States, that going through this process is a good way to better understand the religion, because it
is so different than any of the more common forms of religion we tend to see. Also, the architecture of the temple was amazing. Each of the buildings was made of painted wood, and they were all beautiful. Inside one of the buildings in the back was a 26m tall statue of one of the buddhas, carved from a single piece of sandalwood. Standing at the base of this statue (or as close to the base as possible), you have to kink your neck in order to see the head of the buddha, which is partially hidden by one of the ceiling eves. And not only was the statue huge, but the detail on it was amazing. I was not able to get a picture of it, as they don't allow pictures inside the halls, but if you ever visit Beijing, definitely stop by
Confucius
Please give me good grades! this temple.
After walking through the lamasery, we headed across the street (jaywalking, of course) and down an alley to a confucian temple. On the way, Chris stopped to buy a yogurt drink from a stand next to the road (somewhat sketchy because it was obviously not refrigerated, and in glass bottles that they reuse - you could spend 5元 if you stayed and returned the bottle after you finished the drink or 7元 to take the bottle with you). Surprisingly, the yogurt was very tasty and sweet (and didn't give us food poisoning, yay!). The confucian temple is much smaller than the lamasery, but apparently swarms with students around exam time, as they all come to pray for good grades. As it was, the temple was pretty empty, other than a few other tourists, and a group that was practicing the most zen form of archery I've ever seen. They were playing this monotone, chanting music, which the archers were obviously using to time each of their movements. Two kids (about high school age) were taking turns shooting the arrows, and in between turns they would hold the bow up in front of them a little above chest
height with their elbows only slightly bent. I was impressed that their arms weren't shaking crazily by the end of it! And the guys who went last had to stand off to the side with their bows at that position while they waited for their peers to go! I definitely did not envy them that.
Tomorrow we head to Dashilar (大柵欄) and Baitasi (白塔寺) as an excursion for my music class, but due to time constraints, I will have to skip that in this post.
Anyways, that's all for now, and I will see you all next time!
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Terry May
non-member comment
A Tattoo?!
Hi Katie, OK, I have to say I think it is very clever, artistic, thoughtful, meaningful and YOU. I knew what it was, right away. I still would have suggested putting the design on paper, framing it and hanging it on the wall........but then you didn't ask me, did you? I'm certainly glad you didn't get the same tattoo as Ian! The rest of the McGees are coming for dinner tonight, so you'll probably be able to 'feel' us all talking about you......and your tattoo. If Lianne comes home with a tattoo, you're in BIG trouble! Ha, ha. Terry