October

At the beginning of October, we were dismissed from class for a week due to the Chinese National Holiday. This year, the holiday was very special as everyone was celebrating the 70^th Anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. This was incredible as there were many events being held such as a military parade opening the ceremony in Beijing. According to locals, the parade was the largest one that has been held in Chinese history. Beijing was also covered with red flags in honour of the founding.

For our holiday, a few of us travelled to Beijing for the day. We left Tianjin early in the morning and spent 2 hours on the train to Beijing. Once we arrived, I was shocked by how busy it was compared to back home. I thought that it was rush hour once we arrived by the amount of people that were there but this was normal for everyone just going about their daily lives. We first went to the Pearl Market that was close to train station. I had already been to the Pearl Market a few years ago with my school and from memory the place hadn’t changed. Everything looked similar but the only difference was that this time around it was a lot quieter. There was clothes, makeup, electronics and many other things. When we were walking around, people would ask us “Would you like…?” in English as they could tell we were foreigners. The Pearl Market is a great place to buy things but also an opportunity for us to bargain with the people and try to get a lower price for the items.

Once we left, we made our way to the Heavenly Temple. It was first built in 1420 and is the place where emperors Ming Dynasty and Qing Dynasty held the Heaven Worship Ceremony. When we were visiting, some people pointed and said 外国人 (waiguoren) which I found funny yet strange.

We walked to Tiananmen Square where we saw a glimpse of an event being held for the 70^th anniversary celebration. We then went to parks beside and behind Forbidden City. This was my favourite part of the day as the scenery was so beautiful and I absolutely loved the photos I got that day.

After a very long day, we began our journey home late at night. I was glad that we had booked a seating ticket instead of standing as I was so exhausted.

In China, Halloween isn’t very popular but we found some places that sold things related to Halloween. In the supermarket near our accommodation, they sell Halloween masks and buckets for children but it’s a very small selection. The weekend before Halloween, a few of us dressed up and went to a Halloween party held in town. We left our costume ideas last minute but prepared something quick and easy for us to go out in. Everyone used some things we had already bought in China or that we brought from home. I dressed in casual clothes and used some bunny ears I had bought at Italian Street in September.

I’m currently studying for my mid term exam which is a recap of everything I have learned so far. I still find it difficult forming sentences but I can now recognise words and characters more easily now than before. Hopefully this time next month I can have a full conversation in Chinese. Can’t wait to update you all next month!

Jody x