My Semester Abroad

Today we went to the Forbidden City and to Bei Hua Park. The Forbidden City was mostly under construction for the Olympics, but it was phenomenal nonetheless. Bei Hua Park surrounds a very large lake (which I think would be very good choice for a regatta). WeiWei said it a popular place for kids our age to go on dates--they go rent paddle boats and walk around the park.

On the north side we saw a man painting Chinese characters with a giant homemade calligraphy pen. He let us try writing our Chinese names and told me I looked funny when I wrote with my left hand. I think it is great how leisure and recreation are so important here, how they dedicated this beautiful and scenic lake--which reminds me of Lake Whatcom--entirely to leisurly activities. In one of the gazebos along the park we saw a man playing folk songs on the er hu (a two-stringed instrument similar to the violin) and other adults would stop by and sing along.

Today was EXTREMELY hot and humid, but we still hiked up the summer palace and it was most definitely worth it. After that we went to the zoo and saw pandas. More later.

We arrived today at the Beijing Internatonal Airport at about 4 p.m. local time (1 a.m. Seattle time) but we weren't really interested in resting. After six months of planning, it was too exciting to just arrive and go straight to sleep!

Driving toward our host university was so amazing! It was strange how so many brand-new high rises and large office buildings were existing in the same space as older neighborhoods that are crumbling into dust and sand--right across the street from one another.

The professor hosting us at the university introduced us to our student host, WeiWei, and arranged a large meal at the hotel restaurant. I wouldn't be exaggerating to say it felt like eating like royalty; each dish was more delicious than the one before. The most interesting thing we ate, though, wasn't even that exotic: it grows in the backyard of my house in Bellingham--we ate fern! They lightly boiled it, put a type of vineger (I think) on it, and served it chilled. It was AMAZING. We made a rule to try new things every day, and not eat the same dish more than twice this week, though we made an exception for the fern.