Chinese lesson number two went very well for us. We started out our session by having Beth quiz us over our pronun-ciation and vocabulary. It's funny because Pazi pronounces the words better than Adán, but Adán remembers more of the vocabulary! As a team we are solid. What was really exciting about the lesson was the opportunity to learn actual sentences. Now, they are nothing sophisticated but we have to start somewhere. We are learning verbs like to be tired, hungry, busy, sleepy, thirsty, happy, etc. Beth is really doing a great job considering she is only a junior and Chinese higher education really doesn't offer undergraduate teaching opportunities. During the past few days we also had Pazi slowly become ill. It is nothing serious but she has felt under the weather with a headache and a cold. To get her on the road to recovery we stayed home for much of the weekend to let her recuperate. Part of the time we watched a couple of DVDs that we bought from the school store. They actually have a pretty good selection of current films such as I Am Legend, Atonement, and American Gangster. They have to be bootleg but they look totally legit. The cost per movie is 7 kuai (Beijing slang for yuan) each. That's less than a dollar a flick!
Ming Walls Cultural Relics Park
We did get out one day and explore Beijing more. We have decided to plan the obvious tourist trips to places such as Tian'anmen Square, Forbidden City, Summer Place, etc. However, since we are living here for an extended amount of time we also thought that it would be interesting to occasionally just get on the subway and visit some of the lesser publicized attractions. On this particular day we did just that. We got off at Wangfujing stop and just started exploring. Quickly, within a three block radius, we saw three fancy shopping centers. We are learning that retail is huge here in Beijing. We decided to keep walking and follow some of the bigger crowds that were crossing some of the busier roads. This was also a survival tactic as Beijing drivers are crazy. It appears that China follows Mexico's rule of drivers always have the right of way. Pedestrians beware!
Soon we found ourselves positioned right in front of Beijing Zhan, the Beijing Railway Station. This was a great find for in the future when we travel throughout China we will need to depart from this station. In this same area we saw dozens upon dozens of restaurants, supermarkets, and convenience stores. The amount of congestion is unreal. But we really didn't mind it, we were to busy just soaking it all in.
We decided to go down another couple of blocks just to see if anything worthwhile was nearby. As we were walking we decided to pull out our guide book to see if it offered any suggestions. Coincidentally, we where half a block away from Ming Walls Cultural Relics Park. We decided to go by and take a peek. The park is situated directly behind the railway bridge so you really can't see anything until you are basically at the entrance. Once we reached this point we saw an impressive structure. First, was the Dongbianmen Watchtower , used as a lookout during the Ming dynasty to defend the city. The watchtower was built with 144 window-sized apertures for firing arrows (check them out in the picture with Pazi). Then adjacent to the tower is an amazing 1.5 km (about a mile) long wall standing roughly 11 feet tall. This historical site dates back to 1436!
Visitors are allowed into the watchtower but since the park was closing in 15 minutes we decided not to chance it. In fact, reading up on the park a bit more, we found out that during spring when the flowers begin to bloom is the best time to view the park. For sure we'll be back in a few weeks.
