a week off...

Well our break is officially over. We're at school today for meetings. It's nice to be part of a school that is working hard to bring everything up to a high standard. We are working at getting accredited with WASC and NCCT (american and chinese respectively). So there are separate committees for every area having to do with running a school. They were working on this last year as well so much of the work is done, but we have to collect evidence for everything.



anyways, this past week has been fun. Monday we ventured to the heart of the city, along with about a million other people. (actually heard on the news that this holiday week 1.7 million people came to Beijing). we took the subway for the first time. at each transfer it got progressively busier and busier. at the final transfer we had to wait in line to get on the subway and then finally shoved our way onto one. downtown was just the same. massive crowds of people everywhere. there was no quiet spot. sidewalks were packed. Tian'anmen Square (the biggest town square in the world) was packed with people just mingling about. and there was nowhere to sit! no park benches, no steps, nothing! so people just sat down on the paved ground. at one point I found a curb to sit down on, but a police man came and told us all to get up. they kept people moving, yelling at us with megaphones. who knows what they were yelling, but it was annoying! going through Tian'anmen Gate towards the Forbidden City you could only walk in one direction. if you decided you wanted to exit you had to walk basically all the way around these massive gardens and walls. hordes of people just moving moving moving. so exhausting. the view from up top the Tian'anmen Gate was probably the best part of the day. since you had to pay to go up there weren't as many people up there. and you could see the entire Tian'anmen Square from up there, with all the people. that's where the leaders address the people from.

We enjoyed some comforting KFC food for dinner! then wandered around the famous shopping street Wangfujing. We also found the Night Market, which is famous for its weird foods. everything on a stick. from pork, to scorpions, grasshoppers, star fish, to fruit (which is what we had) :)

it was an exhausting day, but it's one of those things were you're glad to say "I was there!"

Tuesday was a bit more relaxing. we biked over to a local park where they had lots of exhibitors, including a little Dutch village! they are celebrating 35 years of diplomatic relationships between China and Holland. so there were some Dutch people doing some traditional crafts, and making some food. we found some delicious raisin buns! but no cheese :(

I'll write later about our visit to a little resort Wednesday-Thursday. we're going to head to the bank, which should take us at least 1 hour. that's the thing about China. many things appear very modern, but underneath it's all still old-fashioned. they chinese don't like to "lose face"....which affects many things in society, including the traffic :)

bye for now! happy thanksgiving!