Beijing

Last week I went to Beijing for the weekend - my first time in Beijing. Since I'll be back to Beijing multiple times, like when my parents come in January (woohoo!) and when other friends come later, I decided to spread out the sightseeing a little. This trip included trips to Tsinghua University, Temple of Heaven, and Summer Palace.

Tsinghua University, considered the top science and engineering university in China, was established in 1911, funded by U.S. money (the "Boxer Indemnity," their website says) to make up for damage done during the Boxer Rebellion. Many of the country's leaders, like Hu Jintao, the current president, attended Tsinghua. The architect was a University of Illinois graduate, so he modeled part of the design of the campus after U of I campus.

Friday at Tsinghua

After Tsinghua, we headed downtown to Hong Qiao, "Red Bridge," which was a huge pearl market. There were literally piles of pearls all over the place. Vending booths lined the indoor walkways, the owners stringing jewelry if they didn't have customers. They yelled out in English as I walked by, the same words echoing all over as the vendors called to other westerners. I didn't spend too much time there, because I wanted to go to Temple of Heaven right across the street.

Temple of Heaven was constructed from 1406 - 1420. The emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasty visited the Temple every year to pray to heaven for a good harvest.

People playing cards with the main building , the Temple of Prayer for Good Harvests in the backgroundThe Temple of Prayer for Good Harvests
The sunset from one of the platformsThe Temple of Heaven includes several temples and park off to the sides

One of my favorite parts of the Temple of Heaven was Echo Wall. The large round area is enclosed by a stone wall, except for the open entryway. I stood on one side of the door, facing around the wall, and my friend stood on the other side of the door, also facing around the wall. Because of the structure and how sound waves work, our voices traveled along the outside of the wall to the other person!

Saturday I went to Summer Palace, built in 1750. It was the summer resort for Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908), who used the Navy's funds to build a marble boat in 1888 (shown below). Apparently she allocated funds to help build up a modern navy, but then decided to use the funds to build a 36 meter -long boat, where she could eat dinner and admire her garden! The message she was trying to send was that the Qing Dynasty was solid and would not be overturned, like her boat. Unfortunately (and ironically), the Qing Dynasty downfall is often blamed on this woman. A good reminder that our actions are more important than our words.

Foxiangge Pagoda, the Tower of Buddhist Incense (where Cixi had her birthday parties!) This is the main building of the Summer PalaceKunming Lake Beijing from the Foxiangge PagodaThis picture is taken through a painted window of Kunming Lake and the marble boat off to the leftand...the Marble Boat!

Success!

The pictures tell the story...

Before After Reflection off my coffee table Dough Ornaments I painted at a friend's Christmas party!

Clean Cars

Here's a picture of a man mopping his car. People seem to usually take excellent care of their vehicles. Often I see someone dry washing a car, carefully wiping the dust off it. Washing cars thoroughly - including opening up the car doors and removing any trace of dirt and getting the rag in every corner of the vehicle - is not uncommon, and often I see a quite a few people working on the same car. The result? Lots of shiny vehicles, and the ones that aren't really stand out.

You've Got Mail!

I hurried home after class on Thursday, after receiving a text message saying that my apartment management office had a package for me. Lugging the box around the corner to my apartment, I ripped it open, eager to see what my friends had sent me! Inside the USPS box were some cards, granola bars, chai tea... and 20 individually wrapped Christmas presents! Aah, the suspense of Christmas! I still have to wait 2 weeks! I did, however, open the cards, which were super encouraging and fun to read, and then put the gifts under a little tiny tree that one of my teachers gave me, since she didn't want it anymore. Thank you Melissa, Sara, Megan, Beth, Liz, Lucy, Cathi, and the rest of you who contributed! I'm excited to see what's in there, and by the way, Christmas comes sooner for me than it does for you :)
Something just didn't seem right, though. Growing up, we always had a real tree. The scent of the greenery, the look of the needles, and having to move furniture to put a tree in its place remind me of Christmas, so having a 1 foot fake tree didn't quite seem real enough to me. Besides, the gifts seemed out of proportion compared to the tree. So yesterday, I set off on my bike, determined to at least find a bigger tree (knowing that a real one was out of the question). Here's what I ended up with!It's definitely larger than I was picturing, but when I chose my tree, the bar code on the box didn't work, so she sold me the larger one instead!

The next dilemma was how to get the large box home. I had ridden to the store, but this box was rather heavy and very large. After contemplating taking a taxi home and then coming back later to get my bike, I decided I wanted adventure, and loaded the box on the back of my bike! I set it behind me and held on to the tree with one hand and the handlebars with the other. It was definitely my largest bike load, and (I know this is shocking) I did receive quite a few strange looks, comments, and nudging friends to look at my wide load. As I rode, I pictured myself taking out innocent bystanders, forgetting that my bike was now 4 feet wide. However, my venture was successful, and I arrived safely at home to set up the tree!

Today's task: finding lights and ornaments to decorate the tree!