I hope you enjoyed the photos on my last blog post. When I get home on
Saturday I will add lots more photos and hopefully some video footage as
well.
Just after my last talky blog post - which I believe was last Wednesday -
I went out with a small group for a massage. The massage parlour we went to is
not far from campus and the massages are done by blind masseurs.
I was a bit put out when I found out that everyone intended to have full
body massages; I had been expecting just head and neck. I had never before had a
full body massage, and was more than a little apprehensive, yet it turned out to
be quite a pleasant experience. Certainly it was a new experience, and I'm glad
I went through with it in the end. Thank you to Hai and Abi for being very
kind and reassuring to me.
After this there is not a lot to report for a few days as I was ill - as
was a large proportion of the group - with some kind of flu-like virus. I was
laid up from Friday to Sunday, but on Monday I was beginning to feel a bit
better. In class on Monday we had our first taste of the HSK exam, which is the
Mandarin Chinese exam we have been working towards during our language classes
here.
We did a practice paper and I got something like 67%, 60% being a pass. We
have done two papers since and I got 85% on both, which I am quite pleased
with.
Anyway, back to Monday - New Year's Eve. After lessons we went to Laker's
and ate together, then some people went clubbing, and those of us who were ill,
had been ill or just fancied a quiet night in gathered in Ziggy's room, which
was converted into the best cinema in Beijing, and we watched the DVD of Miss
Congeniality. I had never seen this film and I really enjoyed it. Thank you,
Ziggy! It was a lovely night.
New Year's Day saw us scaling the Great Wall of China, or part of it
anyway. I only made it part-way up the bit we were climbing, but some people got
right to the very top. To say it was freezing cold is an understatement. But it
was worth the cold to see the beautiful views we got from up in the
mountains.
There were lots of souvenir stalls and I bought something I'd been hoping
to buy for a long time - a cloth wall-hanging thing of the twelve Chinese Zodiac
animals. I will post a photo as soon as I can. It is lovely.
A group of us then went to a restaurant which was really cool because you
had a little barbecue stove in the middle of your table, and you would select
raw meat, seafood and vegetables from a buffet and cook them on the hob in front
of you. Obviously you have to be a good judge of when things are cooked
properly. As I am not an experienced food-y chef (baking is more my thing than
meat and stuff) I relied on Hai to be the judge, and she did a great job of
picking out nice pieces of meat for me, so thank you, Hai ♥ I also found out she
is a Pisces like me! ><))))> <((((>< <- Supposed to look
like two fish.
Then it was yesterday, the second of January, and after lessons and an
economics lecture I jumped upon a group who were going to the Bird's Nest
Stadium, as this was the one place I was absolutely determined not to miss at
any cost. We got a cab there, and when I first saw the stadium it was the most
amazing moment.
I had thought it would be all grey, but it is lit from the inside in the
most glorious ruby and amber colours. It is a truly beautiful and spectacular
sight. I think of the Opening Ceremony of the Beijing Olympics as the great TV
event of my lifetime so far, and seeing the place where all of that happened was
a really special moment for me.
The Olympic Park as a whole seemed very beautiful and a nice, peaceful
place to spend some time. What I liked was that you can see the mountains in the
distance, between the buildings - the natural beauty of China is always there if
you know where to look.
When we got back from Olympic Park I joined a group who were going to the
Legend of Kung-Fu, which promised to be, "More energetic than River Dance."
(according to the Deputy Irish Ambassador to China). It is in the highly
impressive-looking Red Theatre, which was what felt like quite a long taxi ride
away from our accommodation, but it was so worth it.
The show was amazing. It is the story of Chun Yi, as he grows from a
little boy first learning kung-fu, to the Abbot of his monastery. I have a phobia
of loud bangs and was afraid loud pyrotechnics may be used, but thankfully for
me it soon became pretty obvious there wasn't going to be any of that kind of
thing, so I could relax and enjoy the show. All the effects were created using
lights, dry ice ( a LOT of dry ice) and on one occasion, bubbles. It was a real
spectacle.
I really liked when Chun Yi and the beautiful fairy were dancing together
in the bubbles; however there was so much dry ice being blown into our faces at
this point I could barely see some parts of this beautiful scene, which was a
shame.
Another scene I loved was when Chun Yi, having fallen from grace, is
sitting in remorse and the old master comes up to him and wraps his cloak around
his shoulders and passes him one of the small bells that all the monks play. He
begins to gently strike the bell, and the other monks appear, all dressed in
white like angels, and they perform a very simple but extremely beautiful and
emotional chant, as Chun Yi realises he is forgiven and is in good hands, among
friends. As a scene it is so simple yet so effective.
Today, those of us who are studying the economics module did our
presentations - my group's presentation was about inequality in China with
regards to wealth and income. I then went with some others to a fish restaurant,
where we shared fish stuffed with vegetables, noodles and tofu. It was a lovely
evening, so thank you to Abi for inviting me!
Tomorrow we have our final lessons and then the closing ceremony, where
each of the three Mandarin classes will do a performance - my group are singing
Beijing Huanying Ni. I can't wait to see all of the performances!
Thanks for reading my blog, I hope you are enjoying it.
Liz x
PS the moon here is amazing!
