There goes another week done and dusted in Beijing. It doesn’t feel like it was that busy a week even though there was plenty happening, including a second trip to the forbidden city, going to a famous Peking duck restaurant and a full on week of Mandarin classes. To make up for having Christmas day off we did two double lesson (so 6hour) days of learning Mandarin, it doesn’t sound that hard but trust me the lessons are pretty intense so by the end of it we were all pretty brain fried. Christmas is not really celebrated in China very much, the retail stores and western areas put up decorations such as; lights, Christmas trees and the tinsel. But by and large it is not a celebrated day. I am told that Chinese New Year is the equivalent holiday in terms of family celebrations. Anyway many of the interns were away from our families for the first time on Christmas, but we did a big Christmas dinner and secret Santa to get everyone in the Christmas spirit.
As for tourist activities because of the air pollution I ended up going back to see Mao’s Mausoleum, Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City instead of visiting the Summer Palace. In the Forbidden city we did a bit of exploring off the main track and found several galleries with artefacts, broken vases, bowls, tools amongst other things. Many of the items on display date back to between 600-3000 years old. Additionally we actually found a café overlooking a large square in the Forbidden City where I had a chocolate muffin and Coke. It was a funny feeling sitting there in the Forbidden City which is in the middle of Beijing one of the busiest cities in the world, feeling very relaxed (and consuming some very western food). Beijing is full of these sorts of gems, you just have to get off of the beaten track and explore.
We also went to a more traditional Duck restaurant in the inner circle of the city. Beijing is very well known particularly in China for its roast duck and after being to the restaurant I can understand why. It was beautifully cooked and served with more traditional style of pancakes, sugar, salt, ginger and soya sauce amongst others. Additionally it is served by the chef who carves the duck at your table.
Also I will quickly mention the gym in case someone wants to know. The apartment’s that we stay in has a gym. Well more accurately a room with some gym gear. There are several bikes, treadmills, machines that I don’t know what do (most don’t work), some benches as well as weights. It isn’t an issue for me but if you want a proper workout it probably won’t be enough. I am told it isn’t too difficult to get a gym membership, but I haven’t seen any gyms around where we live so it will probably be closer to where you work.
The week wasn’t all excitement though we had a taster of what was to come with the first of the group leaving. Elena from the previous group finished her programme last week and flew out, it was very sad even for our group that only knew her for about three weeks. Over the next couple of weeks quite a few people are about to leave which will be sad because we have bonded so much as a group. But I am told that there are 30 or so new interns coming in a couple of days’ time which is very exciting!
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