Sunday- From Ancient Royal Residences to Breathtaking Acrobatics shows

On Sunday morning we went to the Summer Palace. When walking to the Temple of Buddhist Incense, we were able to observe the beautiful architecture. We had the opportunity to meet a sweet old man who had mastered the art of water painting. With a very large brush and a water bottle, he wrote beautiful messages to us, including a "Welcome President Trump to Beijing!" His handwriting in English is better than mine. We then continued to the Temple of Buddhist Incense. To get to the top, we crawled up six long flights of stairs. On the way up, we were able to see some of the rooms in the Summer Palace. At the very top, the Buddha stood. All throughout our journey up, the entire Summer Palace was packed with tourist and visitors. After we made our way down, we took a dragon boat across the lake to lunch. -Kristin

 

After a delicious lunch, we ventured to the Olympic Village. It was cool to walk around the Bird's Nest and imagine the village full of Olympians and fans. In my group, many people waved and asked to take pictures with us. While it was probably because they were excited to see American foreigners, we hoped they thought we were Olympians. We then travelled on the hilariously dangerous roads to a tea ceremony! As a tea-drinker myself, I was very excited to taste a bunch of tea. We were able to try 5 different teas that all held special purposes, from helping you sleep to helping your blood circulation. We were all bundled over in laughter at the Pee-Pee Boy, a little boy who pees out the hot water that you pore on his head IF it is the right temperature. We were told that as students if we bought something, we would get a free Pee-Pee Boy; so we all bought something. It was a super fun afternoon as simply put: every aspect of this trip has taken my breath away. 

-Jeilani

After the tea drinking ceremony, we got in the bus and went to an acrobat show, with acts of all sorts including spinning plates, Chinese yoyo-ing, jumping through hoops, and 5 motorcycles driving inside a hollow orb. The performance was astonishing. The acrobats were very talented as they bent and contorted themselves into un-humanlike shapes. It was awesome. After the show, David told us a story about how one of the motorcyclists lost a leg due to an accident during a show a few years back, which is the reason they only have five motorcyclists instead of six in the act. After the show, we went to dinner at a casual restaurant a few blocks away from the theatre. We ate eggplant, porridge, pork, and so much more there. Then we drove back to the hotel and on the way, saw the hospital at which Shang Lao Shi (Ms. Shang) was born! When we got back to the hotel, we briefly met and then went on to the cold pool and dry sauna. We had free time and then went to bed, needing rest after an exciting and eventful day.- Alexa