Stupid Mongolians, you can't climb this wall ... right?


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Asia » China » Beijing » XiCheng District
July 1st 2011
Published: July 1st 2011
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Howdy y'all, So last we talked, I basically whined about my schedule for way too long. That's what happens when you write on a Wednesday and not the weekend, my bad. So now it's time to get back to the fun part, CHINA!!!!! O, and before I forget, pictures aren't going to be posted anytime soon do to a) The really bad internet and b) this blog's photo downloading system, which is fail-tastic. Moving forward!

Friday, June 24th:
So to make a long story short, I woke up at 4 am to continue studying for my first test at 8:30. Finished the test fairly quickly and got an 83 on it, which is good for the first test I think. Especially since I guessed on all the measure words (see previous blog for measure word description, I think the one where I whined about my schedule) and got them all right. Bo-yah! So after then dying in my bed and totally missing lunch, I woke to my friends wondering if I actually wanted dinner. Duh, of course I wanted dinner. And lunch, but that wasn't going to happen. So we went out to a korean BBQ place which was pricy, but also really good and kinda a nice mix up from straight chinese food (no oil, hooray!) So at this place you order some meats, like you were at a fondue place (right? you do that at a fondue place) only instead of a pot of oil/cheese/chocolate/etc. there is a metal hole in the middle of the table. They then bring out a box of coal, and put it right into the metal box/hole and put a grill over it. Then you put the meats on it and cook to your liking. All of these meats are pre-marinated too - fantastic stuff. Lucky for us, we had our resident Korean, Dohyun with us to make sure we weren't making total fools of ourselves. So after our delicious dinner, we heading back to the dorm.
A lot of people went out that night, but I stayed back with Dohyun and roomie Jian Qiang to outside a convenience store and drink a few beers (which is a normal thing to do on a weekend night btw). Also, I think that night might have been the best Chinese I spoke all night. I understood most everything Jian Qiang was saying, helping out Doyhun (who is a class lower than me) and another guy who joined us later that night. I was even able to make a lot of jokes (which is harder than it sounds in another language), a fair portion of which were about a girl I'd embarrassed earlier that night - with flattery that is. Ok, I can see Dad calling BS in my head - seriously. Anyway - it was really nice after a hard week of struggling to communicate and and tough batch of classes to sit down, chill, and see some results. Also, it was nice to actually talk to Jian Qiang, especially since I'm never in the room since I'm studying all the time (which I feel bad about, but it's not really a choice.) Anyway, went to sleep with a happy mood and looking forward to...

Sat, June 25th
THE GREAT WALL OF CHINA!!!!!!!!! For those who are unaware, this was one of my top bucket list items (and yes I'm already working on my bucket list, I'm a hustler.) so woke up at 8:30, filled my nalgene and got on the bus to the Great Wall. For starters, 1 full Nalgene (so a whole liter of water) is not enough to climb the wall. Ok, so back to the Wall. After a 2 hour bus ride, we got to the overpacked parking lot. It starts by walking through a passage of merchants shoving god knows what in your face (mostly T-shirts.) I will say that they had a T-shirt of Obama in a Chinese communist military leader outfit. Now I don't hate Obama (mainly cause I don't care about politics, just a bunch of talk and theory without anyone getting anything done) but I found this to be really really funny on so many different levels. I almost bought one. Anyway, after you get through round 1 of merchants, you get to the toll gate and then go through round 2. And once that is over, you start the walk up the mountain. And this is steep. Like trail of death steep. Like the hill between the practice field and the parking lot steep. I would guess a 60 degree incline, for probably a 1/4 of a mile climb. And that's just to get to the wall. I was the second one up, and I had to stop about 4 times. I'll admit I'm not in great shape, but even if I was, that wasn't a cake walk. But once you get up to the wall, it's one of those "you can see just about anything from here. And that was at the lower part of the wall. We walked around for a few hours, exploring different parts of the lower wall, taking some awesome pictures (first planking pic! ask Jay what planking is) and representing some legit UNC spirit with my fellow Tar Heels.
As a random side note, I'm doing my part to represent Carolina here at UNC. It's at the point where people will notice if I'm not wearing Carolina blue and ask why. I love it.
Anyway, after two hours of climbing up to the wall, and exploring the lower section of the wall, most people got tired. However, me and another Tar Heel (Also named Robby, who I'm going to call Robby the Dos cause I can) wanted to see the upper part of the wall, so we hitched up our britches, I took my shirt off (cause I brought sunscreen with me from home right? no? well, did you buy some at the store? no? Jia-la-fu is still a maze after 6 visits? well you bought some from the vendors, right? Right?! NO?!!) let my angel white skin shine and set off with Robby the Dos, with only our hats as our shade. He had on one of those traditional rice farming hats, I was sporting my UNC ball cap. We ran some of the flatter *still not flat at all* until we got a little tired and realized that we had another lot + before the climb. We stopped at every guard tower for a breather/pictures and then kept powering forward. Two things before the monster climb. One, there is a rock inscription near the top that you can see from the bottom of the wall (not the bottom of the mountain) that basically says Mao's awesome. Second, is that we got to go to the top of one of the lower towers and take some awesome kung fu action shots. Never have I ever faked a 6 pack better than in those pictures. So after a nice 45 walk/jog we got to the bottom of this monster climb. and when I say monster climb, I'm talking about another 60 degree incline of stairs for at least 1/4 of a mile, if not more. Robby the Dos decided he wanted to run up the stairs, and I being the lazy one, choose to walk the stairs. About a 10th of the way up, I caught up to him, as he realized a full on jog is suicidal and had to stop for a breather. I think we both stopped about 4 more times. And then the kicker is to get to the guard tower, there is a 50 meter stair climb at 80 degrees. That is not a lie. I was standing straight up and having to use my hands and feet to balance myself, which is really hard when your legs are shaking. We finally made it to the top, and I laid down for a moment, to the amusement of the vendor with the cold water.
Another side note: China has magical bottled water. I don't remember if I've said this, but if it freezes, it doesn't unfreeze for hours, no matter how hot it is outside. and by hours, I mean 3+ and the bottle still isn't fully unfrozen.
So once we had our final victory, we started our decent back down. Now I know there is a language pledge and all, but me and Robby the Dos felt so unsafe going down the stairs (cause remember, our legs were jiggling like jello) we made a special effort not to get more than 1 step ahead of the other one until the bottom of the steep section. Afterwords, we had a 30 min hike back down to the lower part of the wall, and then started back down the actual mountain, though we took a quick break to say hello to a donkey. Robby the Dos and I finally made it down the mountain with 15 min to spare. Bo-yah!
So in review: I saw the Great Wall, Climbed the hardest part (like a boss), went all the way back down, all in 4 hours. I'm such a G.
Afterwords we all packed up and shipped out to the dorms. You would think everyone would be too tired to go walk more than 5 min to dinner, but that would have been too easy. My friends (who didn't go the distance) decided to go to the 3 arch mall for dinner, and I joined them, which is like a 20 min walk. The mall was nice, but nothing special, although they did have an arcade - which I didn't play anything at - but had this drum game I really wish Jay could have tried. Afterwords, we made the walk back, but stopped at a local square, where among other things, it had: classical (western) dancing, roller blading, and karaoke. It was really cool, and gave off a really nice vibe and edge to the city (well, the part I'm in) that I hadn't seen before. And after that it was bed time, and then the school week routine started back up on sunday.

Next blog I'll get myself caught up on this week. We're seeing some acrobatics tonight, and them I might go out and see a local pop band with some classmates. Or go out. I don't know, I'll let you know. Also, Racism within asian countries! Until then, here are some interesting things that have been described/taught to me with basic chinese and hand motions. Try it for yourself and see how well you can do:
-American Football (which I mistook for a javelin throw, cause I learned a different word for it)
-Marxism
-I'm on my period (that one was a little awkward when we figured it out. Poor girl.)

--Robby

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