I am so super stoked. You have no idea.
Beijing was great. We got there Thursday night and had a bitch time trying to find our hostel as it was out in the middle of nowhere. Friday we climbed the Great Wall. There's a Chinese saying that if you haven't climbed the Great Wall, you're not a real man. Well, that day I became a real man. Joy of all joys, climbing a wall magically switched my gender. Then we went to see two of the thirteen Ming Tombs. They were kinda interesting, but I think after you see fifty billion temples, they all start looking the same. Then we went to our second hostel, checked in and waited for my buddy, John, to show up. He's Chinese and was our interpreter for the rest of the trip. The next morning we saw the Forbidden City and Tienanmen square. We had Peking duck. It was pretty tasty. Then, that night we all went to a street which was covered with bars. There were people outside of the bar who were being really pushy trying to get us inside. It made me uncomfortable, but we still had fun. The next day was our last day. We were going to see the Summer Palace but we got lost and ended up at a park with old ruins in it. It was still cool, but I really wanted to see the palace. Then we also saw the Temple of Heaven. That was pretty especially with the sun setting over the ancient buildings. Then, we high-tailed it to the airport where we promptly missed our plane home and had to buy a new ticket. That sucked, but it was hilarious watching us running up three flights of escalators to try to catch a plane that had just taken off.
Last week, the Americans showed up. They brought me mac 'n' cheese, hummus, pita bread, and Starbursts. I love them. It was so great to see Shawn and Casey! I missed them a lot! It's so super boring here with out them or Thu or Du老师 or any of the other Americans who were rad. During that time we got to see the Peking opera. The first half was unbearable because they were screeching but the second half was cool because it was about these guys fighting each other. We also had a huge party where everyone got drunk and ate food and stuff. It was crazy fun. I did not drink, but I was still having fun being a spaz.On another note, last weekend I bought some books to help me study
Chinese. I think they'll be really useful. I also bought some CDs so I
could listen to real Chinese music. I like them a lot. They're mostly
pop but some of the songs are really catchy. We also saw a dead guy on
the sidewalk. That was super traumatizing. We had just eaten lunch and
were walking out of the restaurant and there was a guy laying in a very
strange way on the sidewalk near a staircase. He was wearing a coat
with the hood up so it only exposed his face from the nose down, but he
was Chinese, his face was purple-ish blue, and there was blood. I still
have nightmares about it. So that sucks.
Today is my last day of giving finals. I only had one dumbass student who didn't show up for the first one or his make-up, so he's the only one I have to fail. WOO! Now I just have to worry about my final exam on Tuesday and my presentation on Thursday. THEN I'M GONNA BE HOME! I'm super frackin excited! SO EXCITED OMG OMG OMG. I CAN'T HARDLY STAND IT.
