.... and ice cream

The past three days have been spent touring Beijing with BOCOG (The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games). Unfortunately, the majority of the time we were on buses or in restaurants eating rice, soup and cabbage. The first day we went to the Water Sanitation Plant (interesting ...) and then to a traditional Chinese "village" which was complete with wooden beds and a golf course... The term "propaganda tours" have been thrown around in our group as none of us believed the "village" we were taken to was traditional. However, it was nice to see the suburbs of Beijing. It is really lush and green right now, probably because of the rain.

The second day we went to the Great Wall. I have been most excited about seeing the wall. We arrived in the morning just as the President of Mexico was taking his own personal walk along the wall. Because of him, all the tourists were forced to stay off the wall. It was so crowded and very, very hot when we were waiting to go in. People were very aggressive and being the claustrophobic person that I am, I was a little put off by the massive number of people around me. When we did finally get in, it was amazing. The wall was crowded with people walking, sitting, eating and snapping photos. We only had an hour so I walked as far as I could to a lookout point. It was truly beautiful and amazing. We got lucky because that day was the most clear day I have seen in Beijing so far.

Yesterday we went to the Summer Palace and the Winter Palace. They were both very beautiful, but I enjoyed the Winter Palace more because of the Lotus Gardens. There was a pretty pond and remains of stones and buildings that had once probably been very amazing. It was really hot by the afternoon and I really wanted ice cream! I was so happy when we arrived at the restaurant for dinner to see a Dairy Queen! We planned to go down after dinner. Sadly, everyone had our same idea and after waiting in line for 20 minutes it was my turn to order and they were sold out! We were all a little disappointed but luckily they were able to manage one more that we all split. After the ice cream we went to a classic Peking Opera. It was definitely a cultural experience. My favorite part was the costumes, not the singing. It was extremely loud and unlike anything I had heard before. I took a little video of it and will try to get that uploaded so everyone can listen!

Today is one of our last free days before we start training tomorrow. Right now I am getting ready to go to the Pearl Market and hopefully bargain for some earrings and necklaces!

XOXOXO,
P