Three weeks ago, which I am just getting around to writing about now, was fantastic. I decided (with the help of Janice) to use my early one-on-one-class time slot to my advantage and explore Beijing with my free afternoons.

Monday: went to a Chinese music activity that the teachers organized for us. A couple teachers played their Chinese instruments and gave us a background on each of them. They included a two-stringed instrument that is played with a bow, the bow threads (?) permanently in between the two strings so the player alternates back and forth. The teacher who played this was insanely good, and she gave us a slow and a fast piece. Two other teachers played instruments such as the one featured in the picture. I’ve been itching to hear live Chinese music, so it was very cool. All in prep for…

Tuesday: After our “Chinese table,” a time where we go eat lunch with the people in that week’s large class (and HBA foots the bill), Steven, Janice, Minh and I went to a “music road” in Beijing. It was a couple of blocks lined with instrument stores that would have caused Sean Griffin to die of happiness. There was a million different ukes to mess around on, every different style imaginable (except for banjo, to my dismay) and though the quality of some were questionable, they all seemed to get the job done. It was too much fun, wandering into stores and playing with their prettiest ukes.

Funny side story: We walked into one of the music stores, and I was browsing the same way I had been all afternoon, when Janice came to me, giggling, and said that everyone in the store was staring at me, hard. I looked and she was right—everyone was shamelessly staring, practically open-mouthed…one of them muttered “外国人” (foreigner). I forgot to mention that I happened to be the only white person in the group I was traveling with. I looked at them and said “你好！” and they all seemed to chill out a little. Janice, Steven and I left the store cracking up. I stick out like a sore thumb, everywhere I go. It’s definitely a different vibe than the Midwest, lawls.

Wednesday: three friends and I decided to take another adventure to see one of Beijing’s famous hutongs. We took the subway after our one-on-one classes and spent the afternoon going in and out of the little shops lining the alleys, laughing at the ridiculous translations, and eating whatever food we thought looked tasty. The air pollution was killer that day—full gray sky, always looking like it was about to rain. The stores on the street had everything from handmade spots to carved seals to candy to postcards to restaurant after restaurant after restaurant. After shopping, we ate dinner at this place with live music that was good in theory but loud and obnoxious in reality. We ate American-ish style food, and I think we reached a point of tiredness so severe that we started hysterically laughing at nothing…the kind where you don’t know why you’re laughing, which is kind of funny in itself, so you laugh harder, and then you realize you’re crying, then the whole process continues.

Thursday: Chinese table today was fantastic. It was one of the people in my class’s birthday, so we sang to her and she ate this traditional Chinese birthday dish with one long noodle that’s supposed to symbolize longevity. One of my friends from Yale mentioned a certain “两个项链” (2 Chainz) song, and we died laughing trying to translate it. Turned out something like, “我的生日的时候， 我志想一个大后边的女儿,” which literally means, “during my birthday, I only want a large back woman.” That line was also stuck in my head for the rest of the day…Just writing about it is making me laugh again. We had our first meeting about our social study week this afternoon. Some of the activities were over-contested, and this was the day we found out who could go and who couldn’t. I wasn’t too nervous going into the draw, because I knew that if I didn’t get Hui Zhoi, I would go to Inner Mongolia instead and have a blast there, too. My name got drawn for Hui Zhou and the initial rush was great. We were given an intro with some beautiful pictures of the most famous mountain in China that we would be climbing, and I was so excited looking at those pictures and around at the people that I would be seeing those places with. BUT…that night, I questioned the whole decision. I didn’t know if Hui Zhou was right, I didn’t want to pass on the Mongolia opportunity, I was so torn when I was supposed to be studying for my test.

Friday: I took my test in the midst of indecision about my social study. It sounds like such a stupid thing to be stressed about, right? Both options were such awesome opportunities. That’s what was killing me: I didn’t want to give either of them up. I took the test, shook off the many questions I knew I answered wrong, and met with the teachers handling the trips. It came down to the teachers for both trips, standing in front of me, urging me to give the money in my hand to one of them so they could go buy the train tickets immediately after I decided. I was such a pest…but I finally handed my money to the Mongolia teacher. That was that. So, I’m going to Inner Mongolia!

After that internal crisis, we all boarded a bus for an overnight stay at a place called Chengde, a city about three hours away from our university with a ton of history. The scenery on the way there was beautiful, and I got to spend a lot of it sharing music with Lisa, because we realized we have the exact same taste (AKA the easiest way to bond with someone!). We arrived at our hotel to be pleasantly surprised that it was, rather than the crappy motel I had been picturing, a solid four-to-five star crib. Everyone found their rooms and we were all riding that wave of excitement that comes with figuring out a new place and getting your bearings.

After dinner and exploring a grocery store for the next day’s breakfast/tasting all of the dried fruit and seeds the store had, we went to this “4D show” that was supposed to narrate Chengde’s history. Alex and I walked in pretty skeptical, expecting not to understand the majority of what was going on. It turned out, however, to be a whole lot of fun, and there were even English subtitles on a projector to the right of the stage. There must have been at least 150 actors involved in making this show, trying to simulate the progressive change in lifestyle and religion so many years ago.

During the show, which took place on an outdoor stage at the base of some mountains, I realized that we could see the stars. I hadn’t seen the stars in a few weeks, and I definitely hadn’t picked out the familiar shape of the Big Dipper since I had left, and something about that familiarity made me feel so peaceful. I guess I hadn’t thought about the fact that I’d be able to see that same pattern of stars in such a foreign place.

After we returned from the show, a big group of us decided to check out Chengde’s night life, so we headed out without any real plan. We found some “locals” that told us they could take us to a bar, and we followed them to this weird, dim sort of club with no one under 40 in the building, super loud techno music playing, and no one dancing. Needless to say, we left in under five minutes, but Alex, Minh, Andrew and I still wanted to find a quiet bar to hang out in, so we wandered away from the group down a road with some blinking signs. We checked out a couple of convenience stores, bought some cheap Chinese beer, and found a table that one of the “restaurants” (which was really just a room with a freezer and a stove) had put out on the street for customers. We sat down at this table and started chatting. We wound up talking for hours, 干杯’ing everything we could think of, talking to two more Yalies that saw us during their own wandering and joined us, and eating the most questionable meat on a stick that I’ve ever had. I honestly couldn’t have asked for anything more out of that night.

Saturday: After not enough sleep, which could actually be said every single morning at HBA, we woke up and boarded our buses to leave the hotel and go another famous historic emperor something-or-other. At 7:30 AM, we walked a beautiful park and enjoyed the scenery together. A little group and I explored briefly and we met this group of friendly old people that had gathered at a gazebo-style building on the lake to sing together. They told us they do it every week, and I don’t think they told us why, but being second-year-students, it’s a possibility that we just didn’t catch it☺ Either way, they were adorable.

We proceeded to go to another temple which was one of the most interesting I’ve seen, because the outside was built to be very unimpressive, but the inside was filled with intricate temples similar to the other colorful ones I’ve posted pictures of. There are tons of statues of different idols (that I don’t quite understand enough to talk about), and they’re all beautifully carved. The place is several stories tall and each floor has its own places for worship, and the atmosphere is very…holy? It felt inviting to the supernatural, in whatever form that place wanted it to be. It made me realize how much I still don’t know about this culture and how deep the devotion was to religion at the time that place was built.

The bus ride home consisted of a nice nap. Which was followed by another nice nap when I got back to my dorm, followed by going the gym (which has become an irregular occurance). That night, Ian, Alex, Minh, Andrew and I went to Hou Hai, the place I mentioned last time with the hutongs and the lake. Minh had been telling us he knew this really great Vietnamese restuarant that we just HAD to go to, so we blindly followed him until he brought us inside this funky little place with live jazz in another room, and no roof above the table we sat at. We ordered based off of Minh and the waiter’s recommendations, along with some of the restaurant’s home-crafted beers, and just drank in the perfectness of the night. We ate amazing food, drank the best beer I’ve ever had, and enjoyed one another’s company for a long time. Afterward, we explored Hou Hai’s nightlife for a while, cringing at the high prices of everything. Minh told us about this brewery he had heard about that he wanted to check out, so we started walking, and walking, and walking further into sketchy-China-empty-alleyway zone. We wind up in this alley that’s clearly residential but feels deserted, and we’re asking Minh if he knows where the hell he’s going…when we turn a corner and there’s a tiny lit-up sign on the wall, saying the brewery’s name in English. We all sort of marveled for a minute that this place actually existed, then we went around to the front and entered this walled in area filled with candle-lit tables, a counter and a chalkboard above with all of the different flavors. We ordered five four-samplers so we could experience them together. Another group of HBA students joined us after we told them the name of the place, and we just chatted and enjoyed the different types of brews. Another one of those perfectly-content-with-life moments that I never want to forget.

Last note of the night: couldn’t get a taxi, and we considered taking a three-wheeled-cart powered by a man on a bike back to the university (which would have taken approximately two hours), we were so desperate. We wound up taking a black cab, which is basically the first and most obvious thing you SHOULDN’T do while in China (don’t freak out guys), and we didn’t even die. It was awesome.

Sunday: For my gospel choir peeps out there, this service was amazing. They not only played songs that we had sung throughout the year, they also played songs that BCAY had played throughout the year! Threw me back so hard, and I felt like I was back in New Haven with all of you. I was over the moon. So, just thought I’d let you guys know that you’re all cool and I like you.

After church, Shirley, Janice and I went to shop at this big building filled with a jillion little shops so we could buy stuff for Inner Mongolia. The place is unbelievable, guys, and you can bargain for everything, so every purchase feels like that much more of an accomplishment. Everything was cheap compared to things in the US, and we had a great time trying to stay focused on our mission but inevitably getting distracted by all of the adorable clothes we wanted to buy.

I bought a pair of knockoff Toms, and I feel so wrong about it…but they were also approximately $8 in American money and they look exactly like the real deal. I’m sorry, friends.

Office hours was great that night, because I got to sit with my favorite teacher, and Alex and I taught her American pickup lines and “Yo Momma” jokes in Chinese. I got exactly zero studying done and I didn’t regret it a bit.

This week definitely reminded me that I don’t have enough time here to talk about all of the things I want to go see and do…I have to go out and see and do things. I want to use all of the spare minutes I have to experience this city as much as possible before I leave.

❤