The Lama Temple and Some Stairs
11/12/15 This week was mid-term week for all of the students. The way that they test is much different than in the states. The students have school wide midterms that last all morning or all afternoon. That being said we didn’t have much teaching to do. To still be helpful here we did do some paper work (every teachers favorite thing). We categorized old tests into their different subgroups to make it easier to cover later on. The categories were a little different than the ones at home, so we had to work many of the problems out. We worked on this all morning and finished before lunch. Since there was so much time left in the day we checked with our mentor teacher to see if we could go explore. She told us to have fun and we were off. We ventured to the Lama Temple, the Bell Tower, and the Drum Tower. The Lama Temple is a beautiful Tibetan Buddhist Temple with amazing architecture and people watching opportunities. It is the largest and most well preserved in the country. As we walked in there were signs pointing us to incense everywhere so we got a complementary box of incense. As we walked we realized why we got these boxes, loads of people were lighting their incense and worshiping. It truly was a sight to see, though my eyes didn’t love all of the smoke. There were many people worshiping and a few spectators like us. Each hall we entered had different figures and statues that all represented different things. People would bow with their incense, and place food or other goods on the table in front of the figure. There was one for good health, prosperity, and things like that. I think the coolest thing was the huge Maitreya Statue that was over three stories high. It had been caved out of a single white sandalwood tree. I was so beautiful and hands down the best part. Once we left the Temple we continued our self guided tour and went to the Bell and Drum Tower. After a bit of confusion in what stop to get off at we made it to the towers. These buildings were how they used to keep time for the city. We started at the Bell Tower because the there was a drum show in a bit and the guard told us to start at the bell to make it on time. I was almost creepy how non-crowed it was. I guess it was because it was a weekday and it was a big foggy out. I didn’t mind it made my life easier. As we entered the Tower we had to go through security and then we turned a corner and saw the stairs. Y’all the stairs were so tall and steep; I thought I was going to have leg cramp or something. Once we made it up the crazy tall stairs we saw this huge bell. It is about 7 meters tall and weighs over 63 tons. We wondered around the tower just long enough to catch our breath. Then we were off to the Drum Tower to see the drums and the performance. As we entered the Drum Tower it was the same thing with security and then… an even taller staircase. I kid you not these stairs were mental. Once we made it to the top the guards were giggling with us at how horrible it was. The sight was pretty cool through. This tower was a bit bigger and it was lined with many drums, big and small, old and less old. We sat trying to catch our breath when the show started. It was a group of five people that were trained to beat these huge drums. It was such and experience (and made the stairs sort of worth it). The drum show went on for about five minutes and shook my chest with every beat. After the show we ventured down the steep staircase to clear our minds with some shopping. China continues to surprise me everyday, from temples to people selling fruit on the street Beijing is a pretty cool place.
