IT HAS BEEN INCREDIBLE! We have done so much over the last three days it's unreal.
After our class on Friday we visited the British Embassy and met many people that had come as representatives of the many different companies that are sponsoring or may be sponsoring the British council in the future. It was an interesting experience with me holding a handful of business cards at the end. It turns out a representative of Lenovo, a computor company,(the 4th largest in the world to be exact ;)) was asking us to return and he could get us teaching jobs in China. This already displays the power and effect of the Global Fellowship and how you really do become part of a network of a group of people. It was slightly uncomfotable at first but once you get into the swing it can be quite interesting depending on who you speak to. We also got a speech from the Ambassador himself and a 2008 fellow (Adam) which really opened my eyes, he was saying that we shouldn't come into the Global Fellowship looking for answers because we may never find any as China is full of "contrasts and contradictions" however, we should embrace this and use the "experience" to shape ourselves and our understanding. Only then will we be able to start having an impact through the actions we take and the paths we travel by. This was however one of my most tiring days and found it very difficult to get myself through the day. Lots of standing, my poor and extremely short legs.
The next day we climbed the GREAT Wall! (Sorry legs, no rest today either.) It was unbelievable. It first began its construction process over 2,000 years ago and officially its length is 6,200 km. That is absolutely incredible. It was such an amazing structure, i'm not surprised it's one of the wonder's of the world. The views from the wall were breathtaking but i'm sure that if we were more central we would have seen even better scenery. Unfortunately, I didn't make it to the top. We didn't have enough time (or i'm just really slow) and so me and Suraya decided to talk to a tour guide instead who was extremely helpful and friendly and liked Surarya A LOT *wink wink.
Me on the Great Wall
"He who has not climbed the Great Wall is not a true man" Zedong Mao
We later visited the Bird's Nest stadium which was HUUUUGE! I can just imagine the atmosphere of the Olympic games now, it would have been amazing! We had a very lively photo shoot session where Asher was a celebrity as people thought he was a player from the MBA. It was strange to see that they find black people so facinating beacuse it is actually a rare occurance.
The National Stadium (The Bird's Nest Stadium)
Asher and his fans
Today, we walked through the hustle and bustle of Tiananmen Square trying to haggle the street merchants and gripping our belongings being wary of pickpockets. It was fantastic to see how many people were there, especially the Chinese people. They are incredibly patriotic and proud of their country and rightly so. Tiananman Square represents an important part of Chinese history and they embrace this. I think its a fantastic trait of Chinese culture. I love it and I really hope they preserve this for future generations to come. I think in the west, China is seen in a very different light. Being in China has made me see it in a completely different light. If I take Tiananman square as an example, what i associated it with most was the Tiananman massacre a very negative aspect however, there are also lots of positive associations with the great square for the Chinese. They hold many events, celebrations and marches through the square and is an important aspect of history for the Chinese and is largely associated with Chairman Mao.
Tiananman Square
Last but not least, we visited the famous Forbidden City. It was peaoliang (beautiful). It was home of the Ming and Quing dynasty and was absolutey breathtaking. It was sooo hot today but we managed to survive (just about).
The Forbidden City where commoners were forbidden from
entering uninvited (hence the name) with the punishment
of death.
Well that is all for now. My adventure seems to be getting more and more exciting as time moves on. Tomorrow we have an early morning of Taiji / Kung Fu exercises with some more language lessons and culture courses.
Bye for now x
Zaijian
Pooja x