Screw the rain, let’s go back to Arizona

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I’m wet. I’m cold. I’m sneezy. My phone drowned. My free umbrella broke. My feet are squishing around in my shoes. This sucks.

This morning we woke up to a wet, cold and miserable day; something we don’t see very often being from Arizona. Our guides decided that the Summer Palace would still be fun in the rain so they bought us all umbrellas and we were on our way. I was feeling pretty sick from eating breakfast this morning, the first breakfast I’ve eating since I’ve been here. I also haven’t been sleeping so well. I’d go to bed around 11pm and wake up to the alarm at 8am feeling like I’d just laid down. The beds are rock hard whereas I am used to sleeping on a huge pillow. I miss my bed! Lets just say the rain didn’t help my mood any and I was feeling pretty crapy all day. So bad to the point that I am going to bed in a little while 10pm, without going out to party with everyone!

Summer Palace: I won’t lie; it was very nice even in the rain. We all had these pastel umbrellas and we looks like a mob walking down the street! It was pouring so hard that ponds were forming in the streets and I had to roll up my jeans because they were collecting so much water! Oh yea, the Palace. I think the best way to describe it was that it was a serene environment. This is where the royal family would go to relax. It is pretty much a huge park which also contains the worlds longest corridor. The rain muffled out a lot of the conversations so I had a lot of time to think about everything in general. One thing that I have noticed at many of the different places we have visited is the two lion statues; one with its paw on a ball and the other with its paw on a baby lion upside down. I really want to know what these mean. Even on such a mucky day the Summer Palace was beautiful

Afterwards we checked into a new hotel and me and a few other students went to the bank to exchange money. We walked about a half hour away in the rain through the busy streets of Beijing dodging traffic and puddles in every which direction! Then, we got to the bank and they needed our passports to change money and they had mine forever running scans and everything…I guess my passport is red flagged! Haha. After I finally got it back (since I guess they want to make sure I leave China) we went back to the hotel and met with the rest of the group to go to a show.

This wasn’t your ordinary show; it was a Kung-Fu show which told a story! It was pretty intense watching all these Kung-Fu masters doing these crazy moves and such. The main character bashed metal rods over his head which shattered into two pieces and didn’t even flinch! Then he balanced himself on these spears without drawing blood! I wish I could have taken a picture but I got yelled at for doing so early on in the show. Apparently, the Great Wall and this show are the 2 ‘musts’ when going to Beijing. Check!

Afterwards we went to dinner at this really nice restaurant and we ate duck! There’s no denying it; it was soo good. All the food as been great. So now I am here back in our hotel and I’m exhausted and just want to go to bed. Missy and Allie are trying to get me to go out but I just need to get some sleep. Well I think that’s enough for now. *snooze*

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Photos

Dancing in the rain!
There was beauty at the Summer Palace, it just needed to be found

Me and Phil
Poor Phil, he doesn't like the rain either...and he's from New York!

Kung-Fu
These people are intense!

Duck!
This came from the whole duck they were cutting on a cart on the other side of the table. Yummy!

Comments

[Ashley Butler]

Get off your ass!!!
What's with this not going out business? You need to live it to the fullest and sleep when you get back. Don't they have coffee there? Crazy lady...I hope you have more fun soon.