I learned how to spell Xi’an today in Chinese characters (??), and what it means—Western Peace. I’m starting to recognize and read the most basic of characters, and recognize the individual parts of the really complex characters to associate things with them. Learning the written language will be a long, long journey…
Today was a short day so that we could get enough sleep to be alive tomorrow morning at 5:30am when we leave for Shanghai. We went to the Xi’an History Museum in the morning, which was interesting, but I didn’t stick with the tour guide, so read all the English labels there were and then waited for everyone else to finish (with the rest of the uninterested people). Lunch was paid for again (thanks Professor Liu and the Global Summer Fellowship!), and I had the most delicious vegetable dumplings—they had basil in them, a first for me in China, and reminded me of pesto sauce, a favorite of mine.
After lunch, we did a quick visit to the ancient city walls of Xi’an, and then back to the hotel. We had all made big plans to go out tonight and stay out until our flight in the morning, but Professor Liu seemed pretty insistent that we stay in. I definitely stayed in, but I napped all afternoon so I still stayed up pretty late. At sunset, I found a way to climb onto the top roof of our 11 story hotel (of course). This was probably the scariest climb I’ve ever attempted—I got really freaked out, but am very proud of myself that I managed to get over my self doubts and make it to the top without hurting myself (too badly). The view was incredible—see the pictures below.
All in all, I very much enjoyed Xi’an, but 3 days was the perfect amount of time. I liked being in Beijing because even in 2 weeks I started to get a feel for the area and a glimpse of what living there would be like, and I felt a little bit of ownership of the campus. I barely have a mental image of what Xi’an’s geography looks like, which is not normal for me. I’ll be in Shanghai for 3 weeks, so I’m sure I’ll get a good feel for things there, even though I’ll be living in three different places while I’m there.
My least favorite thing about this leg of the trip I’d have to say was the tour guide. Not the man himself—he was great, telling jokes and asking quizzes, and seemed to know his stuff really well. I just hate the act of being a tourist. Granted, we didn’t have matching hats or a big flag or anything, but I don’t like being ushered around anywhere by someone telling me why I should thing this place is important. I’m sure it was necessary, and made things much much easier on our professor.
Bedtime now, 5am is sooner than I’d like it to be… see you in Shanghai!
