As I mentioned in my last blog, this week was the first extended break I’ve had since coming to China. This week is often referred to as one of China’s “黄金周 Huang jin zhou” or Golden Weeks, a week-long holiday celebrating some of China’s most important national holidays. I was surprised to hear from my family that there was a lot of talk back in the U.S. about this holiday, China’s National Day. I never knew much of the holiday before learning Chinese. It was interesting to see what people did in preparation for the holiday in the weeks, days leading up to it. That being said though, nothing was more awe-inspiring than watching the National Day parade on TV, the culmination of all of their patriotism and diligence.

On the first official day of our break, a friend and I rose early to grab breakfast at the café near our dorm. The parade was broadcasted on the one TV in the café, everyone crowding around it and watching in silence as Chairman Xi delivered his first speech. Another friend of mine sent me a text to tell me that they were watching it in another friend’s room on her TV, so we went over there to reflect on the parade together. It was especially interesting, as we watched with two of the Chinese roommates. They explained parts of the parade to us and told us their experiences with the parades in the past (one of them was in the parade ten years ago!). We were all surprised by the sheer length of the parade—the first hour and a half was the military portion of the parade, and the second hour or so was the cultural celebration of China and its founders. Nonetheless, it was a neat experience to get to watch the parade and know that we were only a bit of a ways away from it (we could even hear when the planes flew overhead!).

Later that day, I helped some friends pack for their trip to Inner Mongolia. I hadn’t gotten out of the dorm yet that day, so a friend and I decided to walk down to another campus’ 7/11 for snacks and stopped at the tea shop nearby for a drink. Later, we grabbed some takeout buns for dinner at a nearby restaurant and ate in one of our friends’ room and chatted over cups of jasmine tea. Overall, it was a relaxing night.

The next day we made plans to visit the Beijing Botanical Garden, about an hour-long subway ride from where we were. We set out early, grabbed breakfast from the convenience store nearby, and walked to the subway station. The last train we took was the most interesting one I’ve ridden here yet—the station was outside in the closest thing to Beijing’s countryside. As our train approached the Botanical Garden, mountains peaked out in the distance. I was shocked to see them—turns out the gardens are situated between two mountains, Fragrant Hills (香山 Xian shan) and Jade Spring Mountain (玉泉山 Yu quan shan). The views of the mountains got even better as we wandered through the expansive gardens. The gardens weren’t too crowded, and even though the flowers started to die already, it was still really beautiful. Sometimes it’s seeing things like Beijing’s mountains and temples that reinvoke that initial awe in me, the revelation that I’m really in China experiencing their rich history firsthand.

 

 

I’ve decided to add some of my favorite photos of the scenery below.

 

 

It was really hot that day, so we were all sweaty, thirsty, and hungry by the time we made our way through the rose garden and up to the Wofo Temple (which turned out to be closed until November for repairs).

 

 

 

By the time we left the garden, I had already walked over 10,000 steps. But we knew we were only one subway stop away from City Mall—the same one I went to a couple of weekends ago. We decided to stop there and do some light shopping and grab dinner. We all bought souvenirs at the Botanical Garden, but I also had my eyes on a pair of earrings at the mall.

We first got Korean BBQ for dinner (it was so delicious!), then I went to buy the earrings. I was happy with the purchases, as I haven’t gotten many things like this for myself here.

Yesterday was a lazy day. The night before I had spent a couple of hours on the phone with my mom and that morning I talked with my sister, so I got out of bed a little late. My friends and I made plans to go grab lunch together at the cafeteria, but it was closed. We decided to go take a walk to the other campus to try a popular fast-food noodle place called Mr. Lee. The food was pretty good and cheap. Afterwards, I had plans to get some work done (sending emails, writing, homework, the norm), but instead, I fell asleep…

My friends and I planned to get together that night and order pizza, though. We congregated in my friend’s room to watch cheesy Chinese dramas and drink tea while we waited for the pizza. Objectively, I’ve had too much pizza this week. That being said, I don’t really feel bad about it.

Now I’m sitting in the campus café writing this. I’m getting a little hungry, so we might go grab food soon. Then, we’re planning to go to the big supermarket that’s a bit of a walk from our dorm. It rained all morning, so the weather has cooled down finally. I’m writing this blog early since the rest of my week will probably be catching up on homework, thus not very interesting (or at least not worthy writing about). I’m truly grateful for this break, since I definitely needed it. I’ve missed my friends who went to other parts of China for travel, but I’m looking forward to hearing about their travels. Admittedly, I’m also looking forward to the normalcy that my school days bring—the cafeteria is open at normal hours, my sleep and eating schedule is (more) regular, and the VPNs should be up and running again. Nonetheless, I’ve really enjoyed how quiet campus has been. It’ll be another period of adjustment following this break, but I’m glad I got out to do some sightseeing and shopping in Beijing.

I hope you all enjoy the pictures from this blog. I’ve been trying to remember to take pictures more often!