Written by Natalie Hernandez-Pachon

May 30, 2009.  Still no peanut butter for breakfast…  Maybe Kerry and I will bring some of our ‘Jif To Go’ to breakfast for everyone to share.  We were then told that make sure we had everything we needed for the day’s events because we would get back to campus at about 10pm.

Our first stop was to the Forbidden City, where all the architectural designs were very intricate.  Then we decided to take a group photo and as expected the “paparazzi” showed up.  We took a picture cute old lady, who was very sweet.  As we exited the Forbidden City, we saw Qianmen Square and saw General Mao’s tomb.  We met a man who used to live on the same street as Nick when he was doing his graduate studies at Cornell University – this world is a very small place indeed.  Next was lunch, which was highly Americanized (I’m starting to miss real Chinese food).

Since we finished lunch quickly, we started our shopping early: first stop was the pearl market where as a group we ordered over two hundred pearl necklaces, bracelets, earrings, and rings combined.  Then we all split up into smaller groups and went on bargaining ways.  Chopsticks, shoes, purses, mahjongs, shot glasses, and calligraphy were among the items that we all purchased.  Now to warn all the parents, we will all be bringing back an extra suitcase.

The next stop was the Silk Market – more shopping and bargaining!!!  Prior to going in, Hongwei and Tchwan told us to hold strong with our bargaining (to not buy above 1/3 of the original price) because since we are foreigners, the merchants would raise their price.  Here most of the students stayed with their shopping partners from the Pearl Market because they worked well together in bringing down prices for items.  At the Silk Market, scarves, ties, bathrobes, dresses, and rice hats were among the items that were bought. The bargaining and walking around went smoothly for the most part but one bit of advice is to stay away from the coat booth in front of the staircase on the second floor because they took their “pushy selling methods” a bit too far. 

Next was dinner – more hot pot.  This time we all ordered hot pots of varying spiciness levels.  As the food was coming out we realized that each of us would not be able to eat a whole entire dish, so we decided to split one portion (it was huge) with the person sitting next to us).  This was by far the best hot pot I have had so far, here in China.  There were lots of veggies, noodles, chicken, beef, and tofu to dip in the hot pot.

We realized what time it was and rushed out the door so we could make it to the Acrobat show. We arrived just in time!  We all sat down to watch the show, after about the second or third act, I quickly moved to a seat more forward and to the left of where I was seating because I could not see the center of the stage (where most of the acrobatics were occurring).  The show was absolutely amazing, I was blown away by the poise, balance, strength, talent, etc that the performers encompassed.  There were about ten different acts and it would be extremely hard to choose a favorite, however, among the favorites were as follows: 2 Vertical Poles, Bicycle Skills, Diabolos, Umbrella Twirling, and Crutch Balancing.  The stunts were absolutely amazing: for example during the 2 Vertical Poles act, a acrobat climbed up the pole with nothing but his hands and forearms touching the pole; in the Bicycle Skills performance, they managed to have 12 girls balance on a moving bicycle; during the Umbrella Twirling routine, one of the acrobats (while lying on her back) twirled one umbrella on her foot and one in each hand while balancing two umbrellas on top of one another on her other foot; and during the Crutch Balancing routine, one boy jumped on his one hand crutch while the other two balanced themselves and made the platform they were all doing their routine on tilt from horizontal to vertical.

This day was full of different experiences; we broaden our skills, learned how to approach different situations, and were able to relax and enjoy a spectacular show.