The Day Without Darkness

Ni hao! Guess where I am? Beijing, China! Right now, I'm sitting in the lobby of the beautiful Beijing Friendship Hotel with my new best friend Jay (who's from Florida). I've known him for less than three days, but we recently discovered that it's impossible to spend a fourteen-hour flight sitting next to each other and talking (unlike all of the other people on the plane who watched TV or slept) without becoming inseparable.


We pulled an all-nighter on the plane not only because it helped us immediately adjust to China time, but because wherever we flew, there was no darkness. As we changed time zones, the sun followed us, so we never had an official "night-time." To keep ourselves awake, Jay and I tried to keep our plane shutter open, but this annoyed the flight attendants...oh well.


(This is Jay:)

When we arrived in Beijing, we were met by GYLC staff and took a shuttle bus to our hotel. The traffic in Beijing is ridiculous and incredibly slow, but it has taught people here to be more patient, which I definitely respect. We did some "getting to know you" games where I got to meet people from all over the world (eg. South Africa, England, Australia, China, Trinidad and Tobago, and Suriname to name a few), which was so cool.

We had dinner, which most of us were too jet lagged to eat and then we went to a "welcome to GYLC" lecture. We were all so happy to go to bed! My roommate's name is Muriel - she's from Germany and really, really nice.

Today, we had to get up at 6:30 for breakfast, which was tough. The food ranged from squid to cornflakes (I stuck with the cornflakes...;). We had a LGM (leadership group meeting) session before two speakers who came to talk to us about Chinese culture. It was really interesting - I learned that China is a culture that is all about respect; respect for elders and other people in general. Americans should embrace this a little bit more...

After this, we had an extravagant lunch at the hotel which was actually really good. I really like this egg dish with a Chinese tomato sauce - everything else is mostly pork, so I don't eat it.

Next, we finally left the hotel to visit the summer palace and the Beijing Zoo. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...I bought panda earmuffs, which are awesome. We had a traditional Chinese dinner in a noodle house before returning to the hotel room for a final LGM session. I'm having so much fun! More later...

SUMMER PALACE


























(Me and Jay)



(Wish we could've gone on the paddle boats)



(This is the longest hand-painted corridor in the world!)



(Isn't the staff's uniform adorable?)

Next stop...BEIJING ZOO











(Giant Panda!)



(Too cute!)



(Another panda)




(Best. Giftshop. Ever)




(Me, Jay, and Chris in complete panda gear - earmuffs, umbrella, and slippers!)


(Awwwww)








(Sarah from my LGM in a panda hat)

NOODLE HOUSE







(Gettin' artsy with the cucumbers)




(And again...)




(Jordan from my LGM with Chinese Sprite!)



(Check out those mad chopstick skills!)




(Last shot of the noodle house)

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