Day two was another great day. Another cloudy/polluted looking sky day. At this point I could really feel the pollution in the air...it was affecting my eyes and throat a bit.
I slept in until about 9 AM which was really nice. We ate a bit of breakfast and left by 10 for the Qingyang Temple, an old Taoist temple on the west side of town.
Going to the Taoist temple was a really incredible experience for me. It was kind of surreal to be surrounded by so much in my face darkness, a religion that is so blind and lost. Granted not many people are still religiously devout but much of the superstition and ritual are still very present among young and old. Several people came in burning incense to appease certain gods, of which there was a separate building for each. The architecture was beautiful. Everything you'd think an ancient Chinese temple to look like.
From the temple we went to eat lunch and we had noodles again...not the Muslim noodles that we had the day before, but the traditional Chinese noodle dish. It looked like a big bowl of Ramen, honestly, but it was SO much better than that. And so much food too. I was surprised I finished it all. After lunch we went across the street to a Art/History museum where we checked out some of the exhibits, which were really cool. And we walked in thinking it was free, though we found out later that it wasn't...however, Chinese people won't confront foreigners if you play the dumb card according to my sister. And they didn't confront us. Funny.
We then went to my sister's university where she had class and dropped her off. We wandered around a bit while she was in language class and saw the normal student life around the campus. We stumbled upon a bunch of elderly people playing some sort of croquet game and they seemed really intense about it. Mom and I went to a cafe type place a couple of blocks away that my sister referred and spent some time there reading and then met up with Emily at the end of her class.
Her tutor taught us some Chinese phrases and mentioned that I had a bit of knack for it, though I don't think I did too well. That was pretty fun though. I learned "ce suo" which means toilet. Crucial. After class we met with Emily's old tutor who bought us dinner at a northeastern Chinese dish place...also awesome. It seemed like a sketchy place to eat, but at this point I had gotten used to that.
After dinner we went to TV night at a family's house that are friends of my sister and watched a couple of old episodes of So You Think You Can Dance. And that was day two.
I am hoping to write about our Saturday trip to the farm by tomorrow. Saturday was certainly the highlight of my trip thus far. And Sunday's trip to Jinli Street was also really enjoyable. Overall, I have had such a great trip and I've been able to meet some amazing people who blow me away. China is such a unique experience...and I have been doing a poor job explaining it thus far. You really cannot describe the feeling that this country offers. God is good. He is allowing me to look into this culture and learn much about my life and my heart, my passions and idols and how God wants to use me for the future.
in Him,
-b garrison
I slept in until about 9 AM which was really nice. We ate a bit of breakfast and left by 10 for the Qingyang Temple, an old Taoist temple on the west side of town.
Going to the Taoist temple was a really incredible experience for me. It was kind of surreal to be surrounded by so much in my face darkness, a religion that is so blind and lost. Granted not many people are still religiously devout but much of the superstition and ritual are still very present among young and old. Several people came in burning incense to appease certain gods, of which there was a separate building for each. The architecture was beautiful. Everything you'd think an ancient Chinese temple to look like.
From the temple we went to eat lunch and we had noodles again...not the Muslim noodles that we had the day before, but the traditional Chinese noodle dish. It looked like a big bowl of Ramen, honestly, but it was SO much better than that. And so much food too. I was surprised I finished it all. After lunch we went across the street to a Art/History museum where we checked out some of the exhibits, which were really cool. And we walked in thinking it was free, though we found out later that it wasn't...however, Chinese people won't confront foreigners if you play the dumb card according to my sister. And they didn't confront us. Funny.
We then went to my sister's university where she had class and dropped her off. We wandered around a bit while she was in language class and saw the normal student life around the campus. We stumbled upon a bunch of elderly people playing some sort of croquet game and they seemed really intense about it. Mom and I went to a cafe type place a couple of blocks away that my sister referred and spent some time there reading and then met up with Emily at the end of her class.
Her tutor taught us some Chinese phrases and mentioned that I had a bit of knack for it, though I don't think I did too well. That was pretty fun though. I learned "ce suo" which means toilet. Crucial. After class we met with Emily's old tutor who bought us dinner at a northeastern Chinese dish place...also awesome. It seemed like a sketchy place to eat, but at this point I had gotten used to that.
After dinner we went to TV night at a family's house that are friends of my sister and watched a couple of old episodes of So You Think You Can Dance. And that was day two.
I am hoping to write about our Saturday trip to the farm by tomorrow. Saturday was certainly the highlight of my trip thus far. And Sunday's trip to Jinli Street was also really enjoyable. Overall, I have had such a great trip and I've been able to meet some amazing people who blow me away. China is such a unique experience...and I have been doing a poor job explaining it thus far. You really cannot describe the feeling that this country offers. God is good. He is allowing me to look into this culture and learn much about my life and my heart, my passions and idols and how God wants to use me for the future.
in Him,
-b garrison
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