Jan 30

So, we found out that tomorrow is the day we make up for our skipped language class. I know I haven't been writing it in my posts, but everything I mention as an excursion, we do in the afternoons starting around 1:30 because we have classes every day from 9:30-12:30. So yes, we do do work. And lots of it. Since we have to make up the language class, that means tomorrow is class from 9:30-12:30, then from 3:00-5:00. Goodness gracious!

Today we had an optional trip to the Temple of Heaven. Thank goodness I went! It was by far one of the greatest sites I have seen in Beijing. First of all, the entrance we went through led to a park with a little walkway where tons of people were doing all sorts of cool, creative, social things that made them happier than anyone I've ever seen in my life. Tons of people were playing various gambling games with cards, then there was a group of older women all dressed in red who were dancing to Chinese music. They danced like my mom dances. It was really amusing, and it made me miss home and appreciate my mom and her unique, style. Also, there was kind of a pick-up band playing classic Chinese songs that apparently all the members were familiar with. It was really cool that people could just come by with their instruments and grab a stool and join in on the music. There was a really old man that was playing the cymbals with such an intense look of pride and enjoyment, he looked like a little crinkly monkey. But like, the happiest man I've ever seen. There's such a sense of social interaction among the aging people in China, that I've never seen in America. I think this kind of interaction helps people live much fuller lives in their old age. The temple itself was also very beautiful because it was where the emperor would pray. We also visited the place where sacrifices were made.

Then, we went to the Pearl Market, which is a huge market where you can bargain for various goods. It was so nice and fun, but it was closing within the hour we got there, so we bargained fast for a few items, then left.

By the time we got home, we were absolutely starving, so we went into the first place that looked good and open (a lot of places were still closed due to the New Year. Literally almost everything shuts down for a full week, and fireworks have been going on constantly for a good days by now) that we passed. We went to a place called "Hot Fragrant Pot" (awk. translation, I know. That's something I think China is well-known for by Americans - really, really awkward Chinese to English translations. It's not unusual to see shirts with English writing that make absolutely no sense whatsoever. I mean, the words will be spelled correct, but it'll be like "Come war fancy sheep make joy glorious time all." or something literally that weird.)
The random stop ended up being an excellent choice. We had to choose our ingredients for the pot, from a huge menu that was only in Chinese. Our best hope was to have the waitress read the items aloud and hope that Jon (who speaks Cantonese) could recognize a few similar sounding words. It must've worked, because the two hot pots we ordered were huge and absolutely delicious! They were so amazing, we all went home full and happy.