See more pics at
http://tinyurl.com/hhchina2011 and scroll down to Day 4.
Cameron- Today we went to the market to buy items and we went to the
Temple of Heaven in the morning. The temple was really cool and there
was one place called the echo wall. Mr. Finch and I were on opposite
sides of the circle and we could here each other. Eryn and I stood on
the Stone center of heaven which was pretty cool because when you stood
on it your voice would echo. After that we had lunch then went to the
market. The market was INSANE! On one level we were being pulled in one
direction and the people that we were bargaining with would not let go. I
bought some items from the market and it was good experience to bargain
down prices and learn how to walk away. Overall I had a great time
today and i hope we can go shopping again another time!
Eryn-well today we went to the temple of heaven and we experienced a lot
of cool things. we danced with the exercise class and ate Chinese
dumplings. it was very interesting to see the echo wall and the stone of
heaven. we also went to a market. I was getting frustrated because
everyone kept grabbing me and asking me to buy or look at their stuff.
It was fun for a while but it soon got overwhelming. but overall I
enjoyed it. I bought a bunch of pretty cool stuff. bargaining is easier
than it sounds :)
Amanda- today we went to the Temple of Heaven. It was really fun to
dance during a dancing class. One of the sites was an echo wall. You
would stand on one side an another person would stand across the
walkway. If you talk towards the wall the other person can hear you. We
also went to the market for shopping. I love bargaining for things. I
got a lot of nice things for good prices.
Farley- today was really cool. We went to the temple of heaven which was
beautiful and spent the morning outside. Next we went to the market to
try out hand at bargaining. The salespeople are really funny they yell
and try to pull you into their booths. Sometimes it's really
uncomfortable. We all turned out to be really good bargainers and bought
lots of cool stuff to bring home. We had to take the subway (which is
insanely crowded) everywhere we went today, but luckily it was less
intimidating this time around. We had a lot of fun today and I am
excited to see more tomorrow!
Finch- Today's trip was fun! More subway trips (which I enjoy for a number of reasons), the Temple of Heaven and the "flea market" shopping. I could spend all day there. So much to see and talk about with the vendors (some good and some just goofy). The students were great to watch and hear their stories about bargaining - especially Cameron who may have gotten the deal of the day. I bought a pair of "knock-off" shoes ($79 Adidas for $13.80 - uh, yeah, sure) just for the experience - it was SO FUNNY! They literally pulled on my jacket so I couldn't leave almost pulling me back to the ground, lowering their price with every step I took away from their booth. The morning at the Temple of Heaven was interesting but not as overwhelming as the Forbidden City. It was really curious to see many older people there. It is apparently a "hang-out" for retirees that come there to exercise, sell things or just visit with others. Kind of like a huge park that happens to contain important ancient culture stuff. Tonight, we went to meet Farley's family (Tracy, mother, and uncle - father was out of town on business), see their apartment and have dinner. Tracy, Farley's student, is very well spoken in English. The apartment was much smaller than I expected but was told bigger than most (and very expensive). We shared pictures and stories and went to eat. The meal was served in traditional Chinese family style with food in the middle on a lazy-susan that you spun around to get what you wanted. There was no lack of food let me tell you!
Dr. Boots-Marshall- Today, our teacher guide was Wendy. She took us to the Temple of Heaven and the Hongqiao Market. The Temple of Heaven was one of the 3 places in Beijing that the Emperor used on a regular basis. (The other 2 are the Forbidden City and the Summer Palace.) At this Temple, the Emperor would pray -- as the name suggests. He would visit 3 times a year, at the new year, the summer solistice, and the winder solistice; the prayers were mostly for good harvests. Now days, the Temple is a meeting place for Chinese elderly, who are retired. They gather in the park and line dance, partner dance, play cards, do tai chi, and (this was my favorite) meet up with other elderly folks whose children aren't married and try to fix them up. After the Temple, we went to the Hongqiao Market, a place that sells a crazy assortment of stuff: knockoff purses and shoes, pearls, sketchy electronics, and lots of traditional Chinese items, like carved jade, tea sets, scroll paintings. We all learned to bargin really, really well. For dinner, Henry and I went to Farley's host family's apartment. They took us to a restuarant -- the Youth Restaurant -- and treated us to an incredible feast. We had peppered beef, roast beef, Beijing duck, mustard greens, spinach with peanuts and mushrooms, fried rice, Kung Pao Chicken, ice cream, fruit, duck soup, crysanthemum tea. Fantastic.
AND FINALLY - a couple of HH's finest decided to show off their dance skills at the Temple of Heaven....
OK - this was really an exercise class for retired people. They had stuff like this going on everywhere on the grounds. Looks like everyone was enjoying themselves : )
Amanda- Yesterday we went to the Capital Museum and the Forbidden City. Yesterday was also Women's Day so, us girls got half priced tickets. The Capital Museum was full of old artifacts. It was really nice. The Forbidden City was awesome. The colors and designs of the buildings was really interesting. We got a lot of cool pictures. On the way home we took a subway during rush hour. That was the most uncomfortable situation I have been in. It was sooo crowded it was unreal. Overall the day was nice
Cameron- The classes here are one after the other and are very boring (taught in Chinese). But the kids here, or at least some of them, are very good at speaking english and are very nice. The food here is very good and plenty of it. There is no ending to the amount of food given to you until you say enough. I'm excited to figure out what we're doing the rest of the day and the rest of the week.