Sight Seeing
Chinese Time: Monday, December 20, 2010 10:30 pm
So today was our first day of sight seeing. First, we headed to Tiananmen Square. Then, on to the Forbidden City. After a nice lunch (not the best, though) we visited the Olympic Outdoor Stadium and Aquatics Center. Last, we had dinner with the group at a small restaurant call the Chinese Lantern.
This morning, we headed down to the lobby at 9:00. There, we met up with the two other families who we will be with for the next to weeks. Julie and Lia were already down there by the time we arrived and Jean, Ann, Ron and Adriana soon followed. Everyone is so nice and fun. I know we are going to have a great time.
Tiananmen Square is okay. I mean, it’s a public square. How exciting can a bunch of buildings and brick be? But, I did learn a few things. First, there used to be nine gates into the square, but during the revolution 7 were burned down. Only 2 remain: the Front gate and the gate in the Great Wall. Second, Tiananmen Square was not open to the public until after the 1940s. Before then the Emperor and military officials only used it. Third, the portrait of Mao Zedong that hangs on the gate is replaced every year right before National Day. And fourth, almost none of the common people in China know about the massacre that happened on May 4, 1989. I tried to look it up on Google and Yahoo, but it doesn’t let me. The government totally erased it. Ok, not totally. Somehow I was able to find the famous picture. You know, the one of the man standing in front of the tanks. That surprised me so much. Even our tour guide didn’t know, or if she did she didn’t mention it.
Next was the Forbidden City. There are 9,999.5 rooms in the entire palace. The outer palace is for the officials to live and for meetings to be held. The inner palace is for the royal family. There are rooms for everything. There’s a room for the Empress’ birthday party and the wedding chamber. There are also two who buildings just for the Emperor’s concubines. Inside the Forbidden City, there are a lot of superstitious things, like the fact that men have to step over the threshold with their left feet and the women with their right and that if you touch all nine of the golden nails you will have lots of luck.
Then we got to go to the Bird’s Nest. For those of you who don’t know, that’s what they call the Outdoor Olympic Stadium in Beijing. It’s so cool because during the spring, summer, and fall it is used for sports, but during the winter it is turned into a winter wonderland. Inside is a snow mound, a castle playground, a skating rink and a bumper car rink. It was all so cool to look at.
After that we head toward the Water Cube (the Aquatic Center.) There, they have the actual Olympic pool, which is closed to the public (in swimming aspect.) The training pool, though, is open and used by local swim teams. There is also a water park they built inside. It has a wave pool, about 6 slides, a kiddie pool and a water jungle gym. It is all so cool!
After we arrived back at the hotel, we went with Julie, Lia and Jean to the Chinese Lantern. The food was good, but the conversation was better. Lia, who is 14, and I have gotten to know each other and are quickly becoming friends. Meanwhile, Julie and Mom are also talking a lot. L has taken Adriana under her wing and it making her feel at home with us. The little girls love both of them. I have a feeling that Xi and Addy will soon be close and I know for a fact that Lia and I will. It feels good to be able to hang out with other people for a while. I love my family, but sometimes you just need someone else.
Sorry I’m not going into much detail today. I’m extremely tired and most of the stuff we learned was just things you had to be there for. Hope you guys are all well and that life is full of God’s unconditional love.
God Bless,
~Kristen
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