Days in Beijing

I’ve been back to Eugene for a week, and now is the time to write about my trip. I can’t remember every detail, but I’ll try my best to show you some interesting stories happened around me. Are you ready to travel with me?

After finishing my 3rd year Japanese classes in summer, I flew a long way across the Pacific Ocean to go back to my hometown, Beijing. The first impression I had after getting off the plane is…HOT! It was so hot and humid there and I felt hard to breath. Luckily I have air conditioner at home. Oh, my lovely cooler…I just need to simply push the button and it brings me right back to spring. Ho ho ho…

I woke up really early the next morning because of jet lag. So my mom took me to the breakfast place where I use to go when I was little to have the REAL Beijing style breakfast. My favorite food is called “Tofu brain”. Yes I know, it sounds scary, and I don’t know why people named it that way (it doesn’t look like brain at all). But it’s really yummy! It feels as smooth as silk and it melts in your mouth right away. Hummm… hungry… I had lots of good food in Beijing, from restaurant to home cooking stuff. I tried to taste everything I could think of to bring back my sense of flavor. It worked pretty well for most of my time spent in Beijing. But in the end I had to pay a big price for it, which I’ll tell you about it later in this post.

I was surprised to see that there’re so many people from else where coming to Beijing to look for jobs. I’m not sure if it’s a good thing though. Definitely, these people work very hard to own their livings. But Beijing is much more dirty and noisy than before. When I took buses to go to downtown, there’re always some people eating or talking really loud on the bus. I can tell from their accent that they’re not local. One day when I was shopping for clothes in a mall for small merchandise, I almost got kidnapped by a middle-aged woman! I was looking at some earrings and suddenly a sweaty hand behind me reached over to grab my arm. A woman with southern accent asked me complete some survey for her. Without me giving her permission, she started to drag me toward the elevator. She said we need to go to the second floor. As I was refusing her, I saw four guys standing by the elevator, nodding head to this woman. “What the F is going on?!” I pushed her away really hard and ran away. I could hear she was swearing at me, but who cares. It really freaked me out. Another time, I went to meet one of my friend’s sister. On the way back home, the bus had some mechanical problems. So we had to get off the bus and wait for the next one. As I was waiting with the crowd, I noticed a guy was always looking at me from several feet away. I tried to walk around to stay away from him. But he was following me everywhere! Finally, another bus came, and I managed to stay away from that guy. He wasn’t from our bus and refused to pay for the ticket. So he was kicked out of the bus right away. Ha! From then on, I never dare to go out by myself anymore. No matter how much my mom or dad complains, I always drag them with me everywhere.

I didn’t go to many places in Beijing. Most of the old buildings are under reconstruction. I went to “money box” to sing karaoke with my cousins. It was fun. I wish I could do it more. I also went to hang out with some old friends too. Knowing they’re all doing well, I felt really happy. But, my English teacher got stomach cancer. It was so shocking for me to hear about it. I meant to call him, but I was sick myself that time. I hope he can survive, or at least be happy everyday like he used to. He was really nice to all of us in high school. We all believe that he deserve to have a good life no matter where he would be. Talking about me being sick, maybe I ate too much in Beijing, I got enteritis and had to have IV for 2 days. I scared my parents because once I ate something I would vomit in no more than 15 min (not to mention the diarrhea). I think I’ve lost some weight since then because I couldn’t eat normally. I’m fine right now. I went back to my normal diet, but still being careful of what I’m eating. Ehhh… hungry…

My most memorable moment for this trip was when my parents saw me off at the airport. Mom said she’ll miss me a lot and she apologize for not being nice sometimes. They both hope when next time I visit home, it’ll be a happy trip for me. “Remember you always have a home to go back to” I couldn’t help crying when I heard my parents saying it. I know I love them from the bottom of my heart. And they love me very much too.

When the plane landed in Portland, I felt like I was waking up from a dream. I’m back to reality and need to get ready to struggle in “my world” again. As I pushed the cart loaded with my luggage entering the arriving hall, I saw people crowding up, anxiously waiting for their families or friends. Then, I saw a white shadow among the crowd, like an angel. The figure got much clearer as I moved closer… It’s my DWTX! He came to the airport an hour early than we planned! It was definitely a successful surprise. We "squished" each other really hard till I couldn't breath…

Now, my holiday is officially ended. I’ll start my building structure workshop tomorrow in order to take the “static and strength of material” course and the rest of structure classes in the coming school year. Jia You! Yeah!

ps, the picture is a "toy" I used to play when I was a little kid. It's still there in the same old park at that same old spot! And it's still working! I used to climb up and down, inside and outside of that thing while it's spinning...muhahahaaa...