Three days worth…

Well, I am going to try to recap the past three days, but I make no promises regarding legnth.

7/31:

After school, we had the school make our lunch to go and headed the Ming Tombs.  As I  mentioned, we obtained a ride and a guide.  We had a bus!  For seven people!  Granted, not a huge bus but a bus all the same.  So I had the room I wanted to lay down and read as much as possible.  Our guide had the same name as I have.  He inquired where we were from and when I answered “Florida,” he became quite excited.

“Tampa?” He asked,

“How did you know??”

Apparently the only Americans he knows well live in Tampa and he plans to visit there in the winter.  “Small world!” he exclaims.

So we went to the Tombs, but really it was a misnomer in this case.  We did go to where a tomb is, but it hasn’t been opened (which is common practice in archaeology– leave something to be excavated once more sophisitcated techniques and technology have been developed).    We did see where the entrance of the tomb was probably hidden, but mostly it was buildings and a sort of small museum with artifacts from a different tomb.  The entrance was here:

The most interesting thing, I thought, was a gate that seperates ying from yang.  When walking through it on the way out we had to yell out “I am coming  back to life!” in Mandarin so that our souls wouldn’t be left behind.  How delightfully creepy!

The bricks on some of the buildings had marks from the craftsperson, which showed them to be dated from the 1400s (though I can’t read it…):

Upon reentering our bus, Jamie said it was time to go home.  I am glad that the members of our group that had read about the Tombs beforehand objected to this.  They demanded we see the “stone animals,” which we did.  It was much more marvelous. 

 On the way home, we drove by the future Olympic Stadium, which people call “The Bird Nest:”

We had dinner out and went home to prepare for the next day. 

 8/01

This was our last day of teaching.  Here are some pictures of my class:

(Everyone.  Lisa, my translator, is standing to the far right.)

(In the front are my two Lilys, who are both very bright.  I am holding up Jerry (AKA DOOM) because he wasn’t visible.)

Here are two pictures of me looking quite teacherly on previous days (A school employee took pictures randomly and gave us a CD of them yesterday).  I also look very tired, I think:

 After a dragging TWO HOUR assembly where my kids sang “Do Re Me” wonderfully (to me, who knows how it really sounded…), Anne and I went back to the Silk Market in search of The Yellow Dress.  I found it but, depressingly, it didn’t fit.  No amount of weight loss would ever make it fit.  So I searched for another yellow dress but it truly seemed to be the only one in the huge building.  So I bought a cream and brown silk dress instead.

We went back to the school for a quick dinner before heading to the Peking Opera.  I wish that I could say I enjoyed it, but honestly it was terrible.  Afterwards, I wondered outloud, “What kind of analogy can I use to describe this?”  Steve suggested “chewing on tinfoil” but I find that “seeing a terrible rock band” is more apt.

It wasn’t that the Peking Opera was awful, it was that it had no soul.  It was the echo of something that could have been great.  The costumes were dirty looking, the make up was slightly sloppy, the music was too loud and the stage was unimpressive.  The acting was all right, but not stellar.  It was just a lack luster performance of a beautiful tradition.

I don’t usually go for picutures that aren’t clear and that didn’t come out how they should have, but this is a pretty cool picture of the opera:

After the Opera, it was raining quite vigorously.  I got a cab and put four people inside, with the thought that another would come just as easily.  How wrong I was.  Steve, Anne and I walked in the rain for half an hour and no one would stop.  They were either full, off duty or just didn’t want to take foriegners.  Once we got in a car and the driver kicked us out, despite my pleadings and pointings to the terrible weather, because he didn’t want to make a u-turn.  Finally, we were on our way and made it home without further incident.  My new dress, sadly, was soaked.  It will have to be dry cleaned before I can wear it again.

When we got home, my “little buddy” was waiting.  No, not Karma.  A different little budy.  He speaks no English so I learned only today that his name is Mr. Pung.   He opens the door to the room with the computer in the evenings.  I don’t use it in the evenings, but I set it up so others can Skype, so I am the one he finds when he is ready to open the door.  He wasn’t waiting to let me into that room, though, as it was quite late.  Kathy was locked out and I guess they both assumed that I would be able to translate their thoughts and needs, some how.  It turns out Mr. Pung doesn’t have an extra key to their room.  In order to get in, Steve (much to his grandmother’s dismay) became Spiderman temporarily and climbed up a pipe, onto a roof, swung over to Kathy’s balcony, hopped the railing and climbed in through the bathroom window.  A confused Mr. Pung arrived with an arm full of wrenches. 

8/02

Today we went to the Summer Palace.  It is not a palace at all, but a garden and a retreat for the royalty of yesteryear.  It was so beautiful, I can hardly describe it.

(A ceiling in a pavilion)

(The Long Corridor’s ceiling.)

We took a boat ride:

The most spledorous thing I think I have ever seen was ”The Garden of Harmonious Pleasure.”  How aptly named!  It has an overwhelmingly romantic air and it made me feel a little sad.

There was a man playing a flute and the sound of the creek.  The smell was sweet and powerful.  I wish I could have sat there all day…

In the course of my trip, I have become slightly obsessed with the imagery of the phoenix.  It is the symbol of the Empress (as the Emperor is the dragon).  I love everything the bird is.  Graceful, powerful and able to become pure and perfect again under any circumstance.  So, here she is:

Enchanting. 

After the park, we were quite starving.  Breakfast was at 7:30 (which we considered a nice sleep in) and we didn’t have lunch until after 4:00.  It was worth the wait and, for the first time, we finished nearly every dish on the table.  Duck, pumpkin, two kinds of shrimp, chicken, soup, fried rice (the first time I saw any!), squid, libations and things I am sure I have temporarily forgotten.

We had dinner within an hour of returning home, and no one (except Mackenzie and Steve) ate much.  Steve and I set off after that to where I am now, a sort of warehouse full of rows and rows of computers.  On the other side of a partition and door is a pool hall.  The fee is 3 Yuan per hour!  Less than $.50!!!

Alas, my 9 Yuan is running out and my story is finished.  I will update as soon as I have the chance.

Love!  Well wishes!