Chang Cheng (Long Wall aka Great Wall)

They didn't lie. What they call the Long Wall here is long. This has been quite a busy past few days. Saturday was the day we made an excursion out to the Great Wall, but I'll start with Friday.

The reason I haven't written in a while is because we had an intense end of the week. We had a 2 hour exam in the morning, followed by an oral presentation/exam, a 1 hour break, and then a 3 hour exam. During the break we went out to lunch with our teachers. It was the same restaurant as I mentioned before and they made sure to order all of the food that we had enjoyed last night -- especially the duck! It was my friend Eli's birthday, so they also got him a really nice cake! It was a great lunch -- here are some pictures:

Crabs, anyone?

We ate this with chopsticks!

From left to right: beef with tomatoes, duck,
a vegetable whose name I don't remember.

A shot of the restaurant.

I loved this little pagoda! I think it's only for
business/important lunches.

The 3 hour exam is called Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi (HSK), which translates to "Chinese Level Exam." HSK is an exam that a lot of foreigners take; apparently it helps you get a job if you want to live and work in China. There were four parts. The first part was listening comprehension. They read the directions four times and I knew I was in trouble when I didn't understand the directions by the fourth time. Of course, the fourth and fifth year students were all laughing because it was oh so ridiculous that the directions were being read so many times. Anyway, the exam began and by the end of the first part, I had understand 1 out of 50 questions on the listening comprehension part. Having only had 4 hours of sleep and already taken an exam, I was not a happy camper. To make it worse, all of the advanced students would dissolve into laughter at some of the dialogues or make noises of shock/any other reaction indicating that they had understood. As we moved onto the second part of the exam, one of my classmates just got up, handed in his exam, laughed, and left. We all looked at each other, shocked. Then, we all left too. It was the worst exam experience I have ever had. I am so glad I did not stay for the remaining 2 hours.

Afterwards, we met our Chinese host families. Two other girls and I were assigned to a very nice elderly lady. She is a teacher and has a daughter a little older than us. One of the girls in my group is in my level and goes to Brandeis. The other was a Harvard girl who is a fourth level student. She spoke very well and for most of our time with our host mother. I was so exhausted by this point that I was trying really hard to swallow yawns and to keep my eyes from closing. I did my best to answer her questions, but beyond that, I found it difficult to turn conversation in new directions.

That night, we planned to go to a karaoke place. Our teacher had it all set up for us, but we had taken so long meeting our host families that we decided not to go. Instead, we went to a place called Houhai, which is a popular spot for young people. It has a big lake and lots of places to hang out. I really enjoyed it because I some of the Yale students came with us and I'm really enjoying getting to know them. Speaking of getting to know people, I have to admit, we all broke the language pledge. We spoke English that night and today. The unspoken decision is to speak English when we're alone together on the weekends trying to get to know each other. Weekdays/nights, is Chinese time. Anyway, we spent some time walking around there and then came back late to our dorm.

Maybe too late. The next morning, we had to leave around 7:30 for the Great Wall. We went to a very old part of the Great Wall in a province called Simatai. It was about 2 hours away. The bus was terrifying. It was a coach bus, which is a lot nicer than some of us imagined, but the seats were a little too concave for a 5'4" girl to be comfortable. Who decided that those weird pillow things that make airplane/bus seats so curved were a good idea? Even tall people don't enjoy them. Really, what is the point? Anyway, our bus driver was a true Chinese driver. After we got off the highway, we were on a very narrow and windy road. This driver would accelerate into the sharp turns and then slam the breaks when we arrived at the turn. The huge bus would then skid around the turn, only to have this cardiac-arrest-inducing process to be started again. I was sleeping for most of the ride, but at the first jolt, I woke up so scared that I, without thinking, gasped in English, "Oh my God. We're going to die."

It was worth it, though. When we arrived, we instantly felt the change in the air. At the Great Wall, we could actually see blue skies and breath easily. Everything felt so freshed and looked so unbelievably pristine. The teachers briefly warned us that there are parts of this wall that are not safe and to beware and then told us that we had to meet back at the bus at 2:30, giving us a sold 4.5 hours to climb.

I can't really articulate how difficult climbing the wall is. Truly, there are not words that can accurately describe how grueling it was. We ascended for about 2.5 hours and descended for 1.5 hours. The wall is punctuated by these lookouts called fenghuotai. There were 12 fenghutais ahead of us and before we even got to the first one, people were already sweating and breathing heavily. One of the teachers threw up 3 times at the 4th fenghutai. Another student had to turn back because she is afraid of heights and we were so far up.

It was hard going, but one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. We would often stop just to take in the almost holy pureness of the scenes that lay below us. Here are some of the shots from my handy little iPhone:

"Simatai." At the bottom, before we started climbing.

Just into our climb: a huge dam.

A view of what we were going to climb
before we climbed it!

The river below. So beautiful!

Eli and Me!

Two of our teachers, already exhausted
before the first stop.

A really cute baby, whose parents were
selling much needed bottled water along
the wall. A view of our group ascending. Note how
the only people going down are Chinese.
There were very few other non-Chinese
people at Simatai.

One of places along the wall not marked with a "Caution" sign.

Half way there!

This picture doesn't really do justice to how
rickety, steep, and unstable these stairs were.

Me and the other Eli, one of my new
Yale friends.

This picture is just to show how much
older this part of the Wall is compared
to the pictures one usually sees of the
newer and more popular parts.

On the way home.

When I got home, I first showered, then ate dinner at a pizza place that made me want to stick to rice and noodles, then went to sleep. So, that was Saturday.

Sunday, today, was also very nice. I went to bed at 11, so waking up at 10:30 was luxuriously refreshing. One of my Yale friends knocked on my door and asked me if I wanted to go to Yi He Yuan (lit: "The Garden of Nurtured Harmony." Aka: "The Summer Palace"). I quickly got dressed and met a bunch of the Yale students downstairs. My other Harvard friends were still sleeping! We first went to a wonderful jiaozi (dumpling) restaurant near campus and had really good meat dishes, jiaozi of course, fried rice, and the Chinese version of plantanes. Afterwards, we caught taxis and went to the Summer Palace. Our taxi driver was an odd guy. Instead of shifting down, he would just pull the emergency break to stop the car in traffic. Then, of course, when he tried to accelerate again, the engine would stop. Also, midway through our ride, he just pulled over and went to the bathroom. I guess he just couldn't hold it.

Anyway, more interestingly, the Summer Palace was built by Emperor Qianlong in 1750 (Qing Dynasty, which was the last dynasty) for his mother's birthday. European armies burned it down in 1860. It was later restaured and Empress Dowager Cixi (the concubine who eventually became so powerful that she ruled China for almost 50 years!) retired there in 1889. She didn't feel like her turn was up, though, because, in 1903, she moved government headquarters from the Forbidden City to the Summer Palace. Later, she imprisoned her nephew Emperor Guangxu and ruled China out of the Summer Palace until she died in 1908. It was really really hot and sticky today. I bought a fan immediately after buying a ticket and then just walked around with my friends. Here are some pictures from our day:

The first building.

The North Gate to the rest of the Palace.



The Temple of Buddhist Virtue.



I couldn't help myself. I just love Chinese
babies! I can only imagine how this little girl
reacted when her mother tried to get her to
leave the green wings behind.



A close up of the exquisite detail of the buildings.



Inside the Temple of Buddhist Virtue.



Buddhas: "Simin, why are you speaking English?!"



Me in one of these wonderful circular doors.



The Long Corridor. Not as long as the Great
Wall, but still lovely.



The Marble Boat that Cixi built with funds meant
for the navy.



Yes, we decided to do this.
Here: me trying to be serious and to bie xiao
(don't laugh!) as the Chinese women around
me were snapping.


Failing.



Me and Eli as Emperor and Empress. I couldn't help it. I smiled.

So, that was pretty much it for today. When we got back, we went to the supermarket again because everyone was starting to run out of underwear and socks and it was time to get some laundry detergent. I have heard, though, that the laundry machines are very bad and ruin clothes. So, I just bought a Tide soap bar and decided to do mine by hand. That was really a meaningless piece of information, but it seemed like an important part of my day. Anyway, here are some other things from the grocery store that I thought were funny:

MP4 players! So small! What is an MP4 file?

The lucky bamboo and other plants section.

Well, I hope that catches you up on the past couple of days. Now, it's time to get back into Chinese and study mode with some preparation for tomorrow's lesson. As always, I miss you all very very much. I will try to be a little better at updating. Talk to you soon!