Our last stop on our list was China. We, of course, chose to come here to meet up with my friends who are former Chinese teachers at STS. Michelle and Joyce (thankfully) greeted us with smiles at the Beijing airport and helped us find our hostel. We quickly found out that almost no one speaks English. Aside from our Chinese friends and the people who worked at our hostel, we were on our own. The first stop, the day we landed, was the hair salon. Michelle promised Allison that she could get her permanently straightened for cheaper than she could in the states. We went to the salon and Joyce and Michelle left to grab some stuff from their apartments. There was no communication made between those who worked at the salon and us, thus Allison got 4 inches of hair cut of, unwillingly. In the end, Allison will tell you that this was ‘the best decision she has ever made’ and might have to make annual trips to Beijing to get it done. That night, we met up with 5 former Chinese teachers from STS and their boss, Amy at a restaurant pretty close to our hostel. This was my first time see Xiaoqi and Fan in 5 months and I was so excited to hug them and catch up.
The next day, Allison and I caught a cab and met up with Michelle, Joyce and Fan at the 798 Art District. We stayed there for like 5 minutes until Michelle was bored and mad that we had to walk so much. We promptly opted for lunch and a mall trip. Bus to subway to subway and we were there. The Chinese teachers ordered us some beef and noodle dishes and dumplings (pretty much the only thing aside from green beans we ate in Beijing) and we wandered around the mall. After finding DQ and wifi, I FaceTimed Katie so she could join in on our reunion. That night, Allison and I napped and ate at our hostel’s restaurant.
Wednesday was our biggest day out. We went to the Great Wall! I never thought I’d ever step foot on it, and I was super excited to have the opportunity. We met up with the girls “super early” (8am is apparently really early to Michelle) and caught a train for 2 hours to the Badaling area of the Great Wall. First stop was a movie, completely in Chinese, that gave the history. Then, we began to ascend the south side. Apparently there is 12 towers on the south side, but we only made it to 4. THIS WAS SO HARD. I should probably mention that Michelle hates exercise and this includes walking. There are no flat surfaces on that wall and there are about 10,000,000 steps up to each tower. We spent our time taking pictures, playing the Mulan soundtrack and complaining while hiking up the wall. Once we were past the 4th tower, we sat and ate some lunch. On the Great Wall. What? My life is great. A group of teenage Korean boy tourists insisted in taking pictures with us, which we found to be hilarious. After finding out that the tram down the wall cost like $12 each to use, we decided to climb down the wall, which was probably scarier than going up. All in all, we got some beautiful pictures and got to do something I never thought I’d do. It was an amazing trip. That night, Allison and I decided on pizza for dinner and found a restaurant owned by an American (!!!!). You can imagine my surprise talking to him on the phone. Anyway, we got deep dish pizza, wifi, Anchorman 2 and salad with RANCH DRESSING!!! I haven’t tasted it in 18 months. Shout out to the owner of Pie Squared Pizza for making our life that night.
Thursday, Allison and I were on our own as the Chinese teachers had to work on their thesises. Thesi? Theses? Whatever that word is. Allison and I decided on the Beijing Zoo. We made our way there and stop at McDonald’s for lunch first. The zoo was awful and I hated literally every minute of being there. The animals didn’t seem happy and their enclosures were super small. I have little to say about this time except that it was awful and it’s not recommended. For dinner, we ate Mexican food and went to bed.
Friday, Xiaoqi and Joyce took Allison and I to a walking street in the ancient city called Nanluoguxiang. There were little shops and restaurants that we wandered through and shopped around. For lunch we had traditional Chinese hot pot, which seemed to be hard for the two of us to wrap our heads around. Allison shot food at Xiaoqi, we annoyed the waitresses with requests for spoons and cold water, and Allison also knocked our napkin container off the table and broke it. Fail. We soon left and went to Starbucks instead. Friday night was one of my favorite parts of the entire vacation. We all met for dinner (3 Chinese teachers, Allison and I) then we went to a hookah bar to hang out for one of Michelle’s friend’s birthday. Allison and I introduced the Chinese teachers to hookah and we ordered some beer for the night. There was a mixture of English music and a live Chinese band that we sang and danced around to for hours. After which I had to say goodbye to Joyce, Xiaoqi and Fan. I left almost in tears and I hate saying goodbye and I will miss them so incredibly much. Who knows when I will see them again. We had a blast dancing, singing, drinking, and laughing and our send off was really positive.
Saturday, Allison headed home to the states. We met Michelle at the airport after we made her order us lunch over the phone at a restaurant close to our hostel (remember no one speaks English and I only know bad words in Chinese). We said our goodbyes and Allison was off to Shanghai, New York, then eventually Oregon. I couldn’t have asked for a better 3 weeks with her and hope that she enjoyed her trip here. It was fun to see a familiar face and introduce her to the important people from my life in Asia.
On Sunday, Michelle and I took our own flight to her home town of Zunyi. Her parents greeted us at the airport and took us to her house. For the first time in 18 months, I was staying in a house with a kitchen and bathrooms and showers and a family! Seems silly, but I was excited to not be in a hotel or hostel or dorm. I spent the week not understanding a word that was said, but being incredibly blessed by her family and extended family. For two of the days, we spent the day with her 1 month old cousin who was super sweet and happy! I loveeeee babies and loved getting to hold and love on him. Another day I got to make and eat dumplings (my 2nd favorite Chinese food). I’m not good at making them at all, but they still tasted good. On the last day, her parents drove us to the city of Chongqing where I flew out of. We had our last dinner of my favorite meal: spicy green beans and rice. I literally ate this 7 or 8 times during my 10 day stay in Thailand. At the airport, I CRIED leaving Michelle. Cried. Like an idiot in the airport.
I had the best 3 week vacation and miss my friends more than anything. I’m so grateful for this opportunity to see them in their home country.
