Okay, so three weeks ago I went to the Olympic Park!
It was so much cooler than the Olympic park in Sydney. The Buildings are just designed to be awesome.
The Watercube has a moat which actually goes into the building too. I almost pushed my friend in, but I thought that'd be bad. It was really neat to see the building from the inside too. For those of you that have been in Beinike (however you spell it), the Watercube has the same effect of light coming in.
The Bird's nest was also pretty sweet. It's so well designed, but at the same time doesn't seem like it can hold too many people. They tried to stop people from going on the track, but I really wanted to, so I did. Well, a little. I stuck my leg through the fence. They also didn't want me to touch the giant inflatable Huanhuan, but no rope can stop me. It was pretty cool, though it took waaaaaaaaay to much time. It was an entire afternoon.
Then Austin, Lea, and I went to Wal*Mart, which is a lot worse in China than in the US. But on the plus side, it had this:
Then it was Halloween. We had some bad chocolate, carved pumpkins and watched a movie. It was okay, but I think Yale might have been more fun.
Fast forward one week. Welcome to the Deer Park. I was going to go to 798 (which I will do and tell you about later) but Ming Yee and Lea were going to Deer park and I thought, well, no one else will ever go to deer park, lets do it. So it took us forever to get there as we left nice Beijing and made our way to the far south, just barely reachable by subway, area of Beijing. I had no idea what to expect, but when we got there we saw some sweet English translation and I knew it'd be okay. I figured it would be like Fawn Doe Rosa (for those of you from SCF) but it was so much more. Well, not really, but it was pretty sweet. There were deer. Lots of them.
There were also Emu which make a noise like a drum. And a deer with antlers that looked like cancer. And a horse that tried to kill Eric. And ducks. And a sweet play ground. And reindeer. Then we took a sketch cab back to the subway station. Well, we tried to. He didn't know where it was. He wasn't a very good cab driver.
Okay, move back to the night before. I went out for a birthday party. Not mine, but a friend's. She turned 21 and it was a blast. About 15 of us went to dinner at a really nice restaurant. We took cabs there and I went with 3 people I've never met, two were from Scandinavia and they were crazy. Aparently when they're home all they do is drink with their family and go in Saunas. What a life! The restaurant was amazing. It had delicious burgers and drinks and was so good. We played drinking games there with wine and had a grand ol' time. Then we went to find some cheaper alcohol and dance. Laurel, the girl who planned all of this, did a great job, plus is an amazing drunk. It was a good night which led to an early morning of deer park.
Okay, now go forward to my birthday. Much lamer. I didn't want to drag people across the city and instead we had pizza brought to our dorm. It was good pizza. I also got coffee earlier that day, which was delicious, and bought a mug, which I love. It was a generally good day, but not the type of birthday one should have when they turn 21. So when I get back, I'll be looking to go out.
Another boring week of class...blah.
And now we are up to last weekend. This last weekend I volunteered as a camp counselor at an International Church inn Beijing and it was amazing. It wasn't as good as Whispering Pines (RIP) but it was still fun. My campers were from Korea, but all spoke English really well and were really well behaved compared to others there. Unfortunately that made camp a little more boring as all they wanted to do was play cards or listen to their iPods when they could have been out on the challenge course or exploring the grounds. We were at a sweet place, but they were lame. My favorite part was the worship. I didn't know middle schoolers could have so much faith and praise. One night we had glow sticks and kids were jumping and singing. It was amazing. Then we prayed one on one with different kids which was really moving. The kids were just so awesome. Another great part was that it was Office themed. The different groups made businesses. My team might have gotten last, but we made weapons out of meat, we were Dark Night Sausages. Our product was made by a group of kids we found out later weren't in our group and when they left all our energy was taken too...so that sucked. We tried as counselors, but we could only do so much. Camp was awesome. I may be working at camp again next summer, we will see.
So that bring us to today. This morning I had to go to a temple on the other side of town to do research for my paper. This would have been fine, but no one could go with me and I speak minimal Chinese. So I take the subway to the other side of town, no problem. I hail a cab, no problem. I tell him where I need to go, he starts driving, no problem. Wait, problem. I could just feel that we were going the wrong way. He pulls over and I'm like "No, this isn't right, that's not a temple." So i should him the address. I guess I mispronounced it. He starts yelling at me, and I say sorry in Chinese. Thankfully he keeps driving. We get there, he just laughs at me and is saying something I don't get in Chinese. Then i go to pay for the 15 kuai trip with a 100. I tell him I don't have any small bills (in Chinese, yeah, I'm awesome) and he yells at me some more. I just leave. Jerk face. I try to get in, some guy stops me. It takes me a minute to realize that I need to buy a ticket. I show the lady my student ID, but she makes me pay full price anyway. Jerk face II. I start taking pictures of prayers, the focus of my research, and I have no gloves. It's about 30 degrees F and my hands are just frozen. I take over 100 pictures of prayers I can't read, explore for evidence of other things I can include, then leave with my frozen hands. I get in a new cab, just show him the name of the subway station. We head in the right directions, so i think he understands. But no. Hes just heading toward the street. He passes where I'm pretty sure the station is. I get him to stop and walk two blocks to get to the station. Jerk Face III. I get back and go to Starbucks for some Christmas Blend and something to warm my hands. Then i go to a boring lecture and study Chinese. I played LIFE with Christian and Austin. And now I'm here. So there you go, my last three weeks of life. Thanks for reading. I leave for Xi'an on Friday and I'll have pictures for you Monday, hopefully.
