Henry and Susan are both so good to me. I really hope that nothing happens to me on the trip because I think they would both just feel terrible. I will do my best to be careful. I mentioned in yesterday's posting that I was emotionally distraught. While it was true it was only because I had lost my very eloquent blog posting. It was my own fault and I always shake my head when someone complains because it has happened to them. I hadn't logged in but had just started writing in an open post. Blogger did claim to be saving it for me but who knows to where. At any rate, Henry came over first thing this morning to check and make sure I was okay. I am indeed.
So yesterday started with a lesson about the difference between Chinese and English grammar. We spend a lot of time joking about the signs and t-shirts that we say and how the English words just seem sort of casually thrown together. The resulting phrases are sometimes comical. These English phrases make perfect sense to them though and they are just forming their sentences as they would in Chinese. I think I could spend 10 years in Beijing and still not be able to speak or write in Chinese. There are 65,000 characters currently in use. That's a whole lotta characters. Of course you don't use all of these in everyday speaking or writing but still. That's a lot.
We visited the Temple of Heaven in the afternoon. I believe this is where the emperor would come to report on the situation and talk to God. Sort of an ancient Chinese state of the union address. It had some of the architecture and designs we have seen elsewhere but it was much simpler. I have posted a picture of several of our group standing on the exact spot where the emperor would talk to God. Henry was there, too, but I didn't get a photo. I just wasn't feeling it here. One of the first we saw was the area where they would lead the cow in for sacrificing. That somehow set the mood for me, but also, as Henry pointed out, I am really a Daoist at heart.
I think I might be templed out but when I realized last night that I actually can tell the difference between the different types of temples. Or, I can least give it a pretty good shot. Outside the temple there is a park and all sorts of people had gathered in the park. There were several groups singing and playing music and even more people sitting around playing cards. It is usually older people doing this but I have never seen so many gathered in one place. You can never be sure where you will see them when you are out but if you are wandering down a moderately quiet street you are guaranteed to see at least one group playing cards or chess.
After the temple we went across the street to the Hongqiao Market. When I had spoken to the guys who had been at ETSU they seemed to think I wouldn't want to go there. I had heard from Henry and Alice that it was a good place to get pearls but my little friends said it would be things that were being sold as old but really just new stuff made to look old (i.e. fake antiques.) I think maybe they aren't really shoppers though. They didn't seem to have good advice for where to go. They did ask a woman in their department and she gave them the name of a location near Wangfujing (the big expensive shopping street) but I'm not sure if I will scope that out or not.
So the market has all kinds of touristy stuff on the first and second floors - traditional Chinese outfits, little red dangly things for mirrors, fake purses, wallets, etc. - the third floor is fake pearls and other jewerly. The fourth floor is good pearls and jewelry and the fifth floor is really good pearls and jewelry. I skipped the first three floors (although I plan to come back for souvenirs) and went straight to the fourth floor. I did not go to the fifth floor because I was pretty sure I couldn't (or shouldn't) buy anything from there. I think you got the gist of it from yesterday's posting but I ended up purchasing some white gold and black pearl earrings. The saleslady kept telling me what good taste I have (yeah right, these Chinese women will sell you your own shoes if you aren't paying attention.) I chose the size pearl I wanted and the setting for the earrings and then waiting while the young woman glued them together for me. I paid more than I should have but it will be my only extravagant purchase. I can't really tell the difference between real jade and fake jade so I don't mind if everything else is less than real. I will probably even buy some of the fake pearls when I go back. They are pretty good fakes. There were pictures of Bill Clinton and Madeleine Albright and other politicians who I didn't recognize. I figure any store that is still happy to say that Bill Clinton shopped there is good enough for me. She put the earrings in a very nice bag tied with a ribbon so I felt pretty good about things when I left.
I wanted to stay and do more shopping but (1) I was afraid that I was on a roll and didn't really want to spend a lot of money and (2) we are leaving today and I don't want to be completely worn out before we get started. I was uploading photos to flickr when Jessica, Aubrey and Michelle returned. They brought me their Pizza Hut leftovers. Yum! I don't really like Supreme pizza but it didn't matter. It tasted pretty close to home anyway.
Jessica and Aubrey left around 6:00 this morning. Aubrey felt he could only take two weeks off from work and Jessica actually started class on Monday so they needed to get back. We have spent most of the day packing and getting ready. I thought it might take me an hour to get my stuff together. Silly me. I spent several hours packing. I am trying to pack as lightly as possible since we will be moving from train to train and bus to bus. I think I am pretty light but I don't really have any extra space in there. No sounvenirs for me when traveling unless they are very small. The car will come for us at 5:00 p.m. and we need to be ready to go so that we can make it to the train station and be ready to go at 6:45.
I had lunch with Henry, Professor Chen, and a young Chinese student who is coming to ETSU and his father. It was a typical big meal. Professor Chen ordered 6 dishes or so, including the sweet exploding fish dish that turns up at all big meals and I ate until I was uncomfortable. The dishes were mostly pork and mostly greasy. I hadn't intended to eat a big meal before the train but I'm sure I will survive. I hadn't really had anything else and there won't be an opportunity for dinner so I will be grateful later.
We are all packed up and mostly ready to go. We packed everything that is staying here and will put all of our luggage in one room. Michelle and I are on the second floor and the storage room is on the fifth floor. I went with Henry to inform the others and he asked Ron and Neil to bring our luggage up when they come for the key. I thought that was pretty nice and will ... don't know what I was saying because Ron just came in and carried our bags up to the fifth floor. He has redeemed himself somewhat. Looks like we are pretty much ready to go. I have just a couple of things to pack that I am taking with me and then we are set. I sacrificed my extra pair of shoes for the laptop. It was a no-brainer. I couldn't leave my baby here.
I believe we will check in to a hotel sometime tomorrow but I don't know if it will be before or after a day of sightseeing. We will be at our next destination for two nights. I believe that might be the longest time we will be in one spot. Professor Chen recommended that we pack light. I can't be much lighter unless I leave the laptop here, which I would rather not do. I can leave behind clothing and my book if it comes to that. Hopefully it won't. More when we arrive somewhere with an Internet connection.
No comments:
Post a Comment