hello!

Hi, sorry for the long delay! Nothing much has happened since I got from Inner Mongolia-just the same old stuff. I came back with a cold, so I've been working on getting better. Monday and Wednesday I went to work at the World Bank, and Tuesday and Friday I went shopping with my friends. Everything is so cheap here, shopping is like an addiction. Yesterday, however, I did go to the Dirt Market (Panjiayuan) and actually picked up some presents for people like my parents. So I'm not completely selfish. Oh, and I had quite a lovely night Sunday. I was planning on going siteseeing with the guy who originally set me up with the World Bank job, with whom (and of course his family) I've become quite friendly. However, my train arrived late and I was unable to meet with him during the day. So I took a cab down to his hotel, in the same building as the World Bank offices, and we went to dinner at a Mexican place. Guacamole! Mexican was/is one of the top foods I've been missing, and while a Beijing chimichanga is a bit short of a California one, it really hit the spot. He told me that I should try to get a job with the World Bank after graduation, even if it was just for one year, while I'm waiting for Ron to graduate. Such good news! I can't even imagine how great it would be to be at the World Bank again, especially with the people I was working with this spring. We had a really nice dinner, and he paid for my cab back to school, which was really friendly of him. I actually perfectly estimated how much it would cost! It's always nice seeing friendly faces in Beijing! It's also nice when they don't speak Chinese, and the middling level I'm at sounds impressive! Actually, in regards to Chinese, while the level of my grammar and vocabulary has slipped a bit due to the lackluster teaching, my confidence in using the language and ability to get around and talk about the weather with taxi drivers has increased immensely. This summer is worth it just for the increased confidence I now have to speak it, not to mention an overall increased confidence that has come from this summer.

Now that I have discussed the events of the past few days, I will move on to the events of last night. Last night, at 6 pm, I hopped on a bus for Jinshanling, a famous part of the Great Wall. I was going for an all-night rave (dance party) that was going to take place on the Wall itself. I had had my doubts about going, especially since it was raining, but I'm so glad I did. The main dance floor was on a lower part of the Wall, more a buttress than the actually winding part, and there were small little bars and snack tents set up. I danced from about 10 pm to 2 am, when my friend and I decided to explore the Wall a bit more. Much of it was closed off, but we snuck past a sleeping security guard and spent from 2 am to 5 am walking the Wall. Jinshanling is an extremely impressive section of the Wall, and, like most of the Wall, is not the clean line across the top of China that some imagine it to be, but is rather composed of switchbacks, 500 feet long extensions of the side, and the like. Jinshanling is also the only (I believe) portion of the Wall to be lit up at night, and this really helped us on our walk. Sorry, Mom, but I'm really surprised I didn't break my neck, because I was quite tired by this point and the lights were pretty insufficient, and tended to do more blinding than illuminating. The Wall is perched on the ridges of mountains, so while some parts are flat, some are descending steeply with stairs or are straight up climbs. Upon leaving a large tower, we were surprised to find that there was a house on the mountainside, attached to the Wall. We accidently woke up the occupant and found that it was two guys living there, making money off of souvenirs and cold water. We stayed in that area to watch the sunrise and realized that the house had the best view of it, pointing straight towards the lightening sky. It's a personal dream of mine to live on a cliffside next to the Great Wall. I wonder what their address is? Past guard tower #25, Jinshanling Great Wall? We couldn't see the actual sun come up, but we watched the mist roll over the mountains and the dawn light gradually expose a longer and longer winding Great Wall. I didn't bring my camera, so I had to take mental pictures, but I'm sure the memory will stay with me. After that, more people began to come, and after talking to a few Germans, we headed to the buses. We left the Wall at 6 am and got home at 9:30. It was a really awesome experience. Okay, I promise I'll keep more up on my blog. Take care! And welcome back to America, Ron and Felice!