Coming upon the conclusion of my sixth week in China, I had many new experiences. This past weekend, I went to Beijing with some friends and my professor. I never been to China before, and I felt like I had to go to Beijing, since I have no idea when the next time I would be able to visit would be. We visited some of the popular tourist locations such as The Great Wall of China, The Forbidden City, The Summer Palace, and Tiananmen Square. Our trip involved a lot of walking and drinking copious amounts of water. I’m not one for cultural appropriation, but when a Chinese lady offers you a special deal to dress up like a Chinese emperor and take photos, who am I to rob her of her business venture, I was simply supporting the local economy.
Side note: I got really good at bartering in Chinese after getting terribly ripped off on a chess set on The Great Wall. Traveling to and from Beijing, I found the Chinese airports are very different from American airports and that delays are apparently more frequent here, but that was to be expected. But it is all part of the experience and I enjoyed it nonetheless.
This week we also visited some other schools in the Zhuhai area, after returning from our trips. We went to a vocational school, a special needs school, and a university; it was interesting to see the different types of teaching environments at the different institutions. I personally thought that visiting the college was the most interesting and engaging since the students were our age and we could communicate better (also because they had a golfing range and a golf simulator which I had way too much fun with). Aside from that, we had our last English classes and are now making the final preparations for the final performance. Stay tuned.
P.S. My host brother taught me how to play Chinese Chess and now my host dad is obsessed with beating me in Chinese Chess every night, so that is something that I have to change soon.