yeah, i hiked that.
this bridge was not all that reassuring...but cool
So, today we visited the Great Wall of China, and it was awesome. Seriously. We hiked the wall for about 3 hours, and I couldn't even tell you how far we went. All of it was up, up, up, down a little, and up some more. It was pretty hot and everyone was drinking a lot of water, but we had a great time. The views were spectacular, and I never got tired of looking over the wall at the mountains. The hike was pretty strenuous because there was so much up and down, but mostly up, on uneven footing. However, the Wall being a huge tourist attraction, there were little Chinese ladies trying to sell us everything from t-shirts to bottled water. And man, are they persistent, they followed us for a long long time. And of course, they never got tired or looked even a little sweaty. Eventually, they gave me up as a bad job and went to badger someone else, but I have to hand it to them, they really tried. Along the wall, we saw a lot of people, mostly Westerners, who were going the other way, meaning that they had the easy route. But I didn't really mind. It was nice to get out of the city and do something. It was nice to actually see the sky and to be in wide open spaces, if only for a little while.
This past week was my second week of school. So far, so good. Chinese class has a lot of homework, but I do have two classes a day, and sometimes even three, so that is to be expected. There are a ton of extra curricular activities that SYA offers, and I want to do them all, but I know I cannot.
I cannot stress enough how unbelievably good most of the food is here. The dumplings are awesome, and so it the tea. I really like being able to try new food on a daily basis. For those of you who are curious, the most disgusting thing I have eaten here so far is McDonalds. seriously, as bad as it is in the US, in China, it is absolutely awful. For the record, I did not go willingly. Speaking of food, one of my friends, George, swears that he ate dog the other day. I don't doubt it, but I think it is absolutely hilarious that he didn't know until after he had eaten it.
Everything else is going well here. This week I hope things start to settle down a little bit more so I can figure out what it is feasible for me to do outside of school. I think Martial Arts would be fun, but we shall see. I miss you all and love you lots,
Stephanie
