Friday afternoon, after our weekly test, a group of us headed into the center of the city to see some sites. We went to Zhong Shan Park, The Forbidden City, and Tiananmen Square. We had a wonderful time talking and taking pictures. The only downside was this week’s pollution, which has been more serious than usual. A “yellow haze” warning was issued on Thursday–basically people shouldn’t go outside without masks… But hey, no problem cuz we wore ’em! 😉 Aren’t we cute?
First we went to Zhong Shan Park which is right next to the Forbidden City. From there we headed over to The Forbidden City where we wandered and discussed what it must have been like to be an emperor back in the day.
One of the MANY thrown rooms in The Forbidden City.
Ornate carvings in the original stairs
Mask selfie!
Afterwards, we headed across the square to stand in the center of Tiananmen. It was really cool to finally be in a place I had read so much about! It kind of gave me the historical shivers.
Tiananmen
In the square we had a woman come up to us and ask to take a picture with us. After we took pictures we had a fun conversation with her about our studying experience in Beijing. She was very curious about how we studied Chinese and what we thought of the culture here. I love talking to locals. They always tell us our Chinese is really good, even if we only say a few words. I think its because they are so surprised to hear foreigners speaking their language. Its always Chinese people who have to speak English, not the other way around!
After leaving Tiananmen, we took the subway to a park near our school that has some really good restaurants. We ate baozi and jiaozi (both types of Chinese dumplings) and I had a matchi shake with red bean paste. (Basically a green tea flavored shake with sweet been purée  at the bottom. It sounds weird but its really good.)
On our way home we passed by some costume shops with some fun/interesting outfits in the windows. We made a pact to come back before Halloween so we can do Halloween in China right! (We’re all a little sad that they don’t really celebrate Halloween here.) And with our masks, we’re halfway to having some very interesting Halloween costumes… Can’t wait!
Until next time!