Childhood Dream: Great Wall...check

Howdy. Sorry its been so long since I last wrote, and once again, so much has happened since I last wrote. So Im going to start with last Friday, which was the day of my second test, my first erhu (Chinese stringed instrument) class, and the beginning of my amazing weekend in Beijing. The test? Well it went pretty good. It was extremely hard though (I thought) but I ended up doing ok. The first erhu class went well. The teacher didn’t speak a lick of English so thank g-d I already know a stringed instrument. Anyway, im not gonna waste my time discussed the erhu class because there are many more to come, but as soon as class was over, I got a quick 35cent friend rice, had a drink with some friends and headed for Beijing. 2 ½ hours later we arrived in Beijing, which is just a much cooler city than Tianjin. Its much nicer looking, the people don’t stare as much because they see Americans every once in a while, and the just walking in Beijing you can feel the rich history that lies within the city limits. As we arrived in Beijing, the bus took us directly to a restaurant where we were fed Peking Duck which is the major delicacy of Beijing. It was very tasty, unlike the intestines and other nasty things that were on the table as well. When the meal was over, we drove to a nice hotel in Beijing and watched the Peking Opera. Its not like the operas in the United States. Its actually really hard to explain but its basically people dancing, flipping, kicking, etc. all while yelling Chinese which a screechy voice. If you don’t get the picture, youtube it and u will definitely understand. It was actually very interesting, and the hour and a half it lasted was just enough (maybe a little too much but its ok). We then left the Peking Opera and headed over to the Chongwen Men hotel which was actually pretty nice (minus the lack of hot water). We checked in to our rooms and then decided to check out the Beijing nightlife. We took a cab to a place called HOHI (that’s at least how its pronounced) and it was there that another eventful evening took place. As soon as we got there, I met up with a few people as well as Leslie’s uncle (Zhou Zhou as we called him which means uncle in Chinese). For those of you who don’t know about Chinese culture, they LOVE to drink beer. The cheers in China is called “ganbei” and what the that means is “finish the glass.” A sat with Leslie’s uncle for hours at this bar called “Sex in DA City” and I spoke a little Chinese and had a really good time. After every thing I said that he liked/agreed with, he would lift his glass, say ganbei, and buy me another drink. It was so much fun because it was Leslie, Margeret, Me, Phil, and Taylor sitting and hanging out with Leslie’s uncle all night. At 3am when we were kicked out of the bar, he drove us back to the hotel. He was such a nice guy and he told us that because he loves his niece Leslie, and we are Leslie’s friends, he loves us too and we are all his sons. Im sure we will see him again somewhere along our journey in China. The next morning we woke up around 10am ready to explore Beijing and for me, that meant climb the wall, which has always been a dream of mine. The crew consisted of: Me, Phil, Ben, Leslie, Margaret, Margaret, Amy, and Taylor. Our plan was to use this company that would send us a van and a driver and be our personal driver for the whole day. In the article we saw it was 300 kuai for the full day which is 40$, but as soon as the driver got there he tried to charge us 800. The driver then left after lots of arguing and when we couldn’t find another driver, we called him back and told him we would do it for 700. Little did we know that the small Chinese print said over 5 people meant each person had to pay an extra 150kuai. Our decision to call him back and pay 700 kuai (which is 90 dollars split between 8 people) was the best choice we have ever made. At around noon, we drove about an hour and a half to our first stop, which was the Ming Tombs. It was a pretty neat place, yet we found out a lot of the things inside were actually replicas, which kinda made me mad, but oh well. The views on top of the tombs were breath taking and the underground palace was pretty sweet too. As soon as we left the Ming Tombs, our driver had pleasantly surprised us with a huge bag over EXTREMELY TASTY cherries. I don’t even like cherries but these were pretty darn good. He then took us to a place called “The Sacred Way” which we had never heard of but he knew that it was something worth seeing. It is basically a big beautiful street with tons of stone animals and stone warriors. Im not too sure what it was really for, but it made for some great pics. We then left and were on our way to the great wall. Around 5pm we arrived at the Great Wall and the view from the ground was absolutely breath taking. None of us could really believe what we were seeing and all of us were pretty much in shock at the beauty of it all. It was then that we began our journey to the top (our plan was the touch the sun that looked like it was at the height of the mountain). The beginning was extremely steep but the hardest part of climbing the wall is definitely the altitude. Also, the steps are very uneven; there will be a step about an inch up, and then one about 2 feet up. It just made the hike a lot more interesting. After several stops, and several thoughts of quitting, we hiked on and an hour after we started, we had made it to the top. It was the most incredible view and most incredible feeling I may have ever felt. All of us had not only felt like we had accomplished something really big, but we all could now check off a childhood dream. It seems corny to say it was a dream but it really was amazing to not only see the wall, but to climb to the top of one part was an amazing feeling. At the top (or near the top), we picked up a few great wall t-shirts and headed for the ground. An hour later we had made it down the wall and looked up at we had just accomplished. We then took the hour drive home , left our driver, took a shower and could only think about taking a shower, having a nice big meal, and toasting to the wonderful day that almost didn’t happen! We then ventured to a restaurant called “Golden Jaguar” which is basically a GOOD buffet. Not a Golden Corral, and not a Yummy Buffet….it was actually extremely good. You pay 180kuai, a little less than 25 US dollars, and you can eat at every buffet in the restaurant. There was a Thai section, a Japanese section, a Chinese section, an Italian section, a dessert section, many other sections, and a drink station. We got there at 9:30 and little did we know the restaurant closed at 10:30, so we rushed to eat as much food as we can, get drinks and have a really good time all within an hour. It actually worked out really well and we had a great night until we were kicked out at 10:40. They loved us there though but they had to finish cleaning. We then ventured back to HOHI where we only stayed for an hour or so, and the left for the hotel so we could do a few more things in the morning. That next morning we woke up at 9am and went with a group of us to see Tiananmen Square and the gates of the Forbidden City. Im planning of doing the Forbidden City when I have a little more time (its under renovation for the Olympics as well so you cant see all of it). We saw Mao’s ginormous picture in Tiananmen Square, which was pretty neat and just walked around for a few hours. We also saw the “Official” Countdown to the Beijing Olympics. We left the square, went to a pizza place and then left for Tianjin. Suprisingly so, it was nice to get back “home” where the prices are cheaper and the Chinese don’t stop staring. WOW I HAVE WRITTEN A LOT! Ok just a few more things then I will be caught up. Monday I started my internship at the Tianjin TV Station which is really funny. Our job is to just walk around, experience what working life in Tianjin is, and meet and talk to random Chinese people. Theres not too much work involved (at least not on my first 2 days). Today, Tuesday, me and 2 other interns (friends of mine of the trip) showed up at the TV station (we had to flash ID’s and get checked by government guards) and met with the director’s secretary. She took us too a room that was set up very much like American Idol is on the first few shows. We were there to watch people audition for a talent show that is going to be aired on Tianjin television soon. Today we just watched but I think that in the next few days we are going to be judges and help with other aspects of the talent show. All we did today was sit for 2 hours and watch the funniest acts and dances and singing that you could ever imagine. Old ladies and old men tap dancing, bad singers, it was an AMAZING version of the first episode of American Idol. I am working there Mon-Thurs for 2 hours a day which really isn’t too bad. Its really nice to get out and really experience an aspect of Chinese life that you cant just see on a daily basis. We are actually the first foreigners to ever we allowed to work/intern there because government restrictions don’t allow it to happen. I don’t know how we got it but we did and Im definitely taking advantage of it. Anyway, my hands are so tired from typing and I need to go finish studying my characters for my daily quiz tomorrow but hopefully you enjoy what I wrote and didn’t get too bored. I miss you all and love yall a lot. Hope to get some comments from all of you to see what’s up. Im not proofreading it so im sorry for the mistakes and the things I left out but hopefully its readable. Hope you all had a good weekend and I will try to write back soon.