Since yesterday, when my class ended at noon, I’m officially on holiday. Yup! Tomorrow is China’s National Day (when the PRC was founded in 1949), and this is celebrated by a weeklong holiday for all Chinese.
(Which I think is an EXCELLENT idea, by the way. Nothing fosters national spirit like vacation.)
It’s also the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is when everyone eats moon cakes and celebrates the coming of autumn. Or is it the harvest? I’m not completely clear on the intricacies of the Mid-Autumn Festival yet, even though we’ve had moon cakes every year for as long as I remember. It could have something to do with the fact that I don’t like moon cakes… except for those with sweet pastry filling and a salty egg yolk. Yum. But then, I’m really only in it for the egg yolk. Suddenly I miss my Mom a lot – she loves moon cakes but always lets me have the egg yolk.
(OK, I just grossed everyone out. Need to stop talking about egg yolk.)

The National Day holidays are also the time when all Chinese take the opportunity to travel. The trains in and out of Beijing are fully booked, and even though it’s not the massive movement of people like during the Chinese New Year holidays, it’s still quite substantial.
I’m going travelling too. Back to my roots… this evening, I’m getting on a train with my cousin Dongdong (who’s studying at Tsinghua University here in Beijing), back to Harbin. I’ll stay in Harbin for a few days with my paternal Grandpa, and then I’m taking another train to Hegang to visit my maternal Grandparents. Hegang is a much smaller city than Harbin, and a lot further up north – I think it’s like 2 hours from the Russian border. And then I’m taking a train back to Beijing at the end of next week.
So today will be a lot of packing and shopping for presents before we get on the train, and we’ll arrive tomorrow in the afternoon.
I’m really excited about meeting all of them. It’s been almost seven years since I saw them after all, and we’ve all changed, grown up, or grown old. A few of my cousins I haven’t met for even longer, since they’ve been so incredibly busy with school, and a few of my other relatives have been elsewhere at that time.
I’m going to see my relatives again!

Yesterday after school, me and Hannah bicycled to the Summer Palace, otherwise known as Yiheyuan. There’s an earlier Summer Palace as well called Yuanming Yuan, but I’ve been told it’s not half as pretty and has sort of fallen into decay. Both are very close to Beida though, and easily accessible by bike. The weather was wonderful, if a bit warm, and the bicycling made me feel less like a tourist, which I enjoyed upon seeing all the tour groups. After seeing mostly Chinese people for quite some time, the difference in looks between Chinese and Westerners is quite striking.

(I couldn't help myself.)

At the Summer Palace, we bought entrance tickets from a charming lady whose manners were almost as good as a screaming, angry, psychotic axe murderer’s. I seldom laugh out of pure bafflement and mounting anger, but I find it happening quite frequently here.
Inside was pretty though, and it was quite enjoyable to realize I didn’t have to run around and see EVERYTHING, I didn’t have to go around the whole thing, cuz face it – I’ve got an entire year here, and it’s bicycling distance. Hannah told me about the whole lake freezing over in winter, which I can’t wait to see.

You tell me if that rock looks sleek, black, and is shaped like the God of Longevity.

The (man-made) lake in the Summer Palace. It's quite big though.

Pretty.

A really steep bridge. And brave of Hannah! (She doesn't like pictures taken of her. But those are her legs!)

Highlight:
- I tipped the baozi place 2 RMB yesterday. Considering that a basket of baozi costs 3 RMB, that’s pretty generous of me. I couldn’t help it, they’re so nice to me! I didn’t have to pay right away AGAIN!

My baozi place.


Other experiences:

- Before coming to Beijing, I had met one American from Arizona and another from Vermont. Here, in the past month, I’ve met Americans from: Ohio, Iowa, California (lots), Oregon, Alaska, Minnesota, Maryland and Kentucky. I wonder if I can collect all the states before the end of this year? Hawaii is probably out though.
- Me, Patrik and Hannah went to a Korean restaurant yesterday. 40 RMB each and I didn’t even get full. It sucks until proven otherwise.

The aprons were cool though.

- I am so glad I’m not living in Wudaokou. Bicycling from Beida to there is a hellish, adrenalin-pumped nightmare that’s probably going to give me post-traumatic stress several years from now. I think Patrik and Hannah get high on the adrenalin rush though – they thought it was fun – but I’m not quite that insane yet.
- I can read pretty advanced texts with some help from my dictionary, but when it came to the washing machine, I looked up every single word. I don’t want a language mistake to destroy my clothes.
- Also, PATRIK IS AWESOME. This is not due to his superior intellect or something equally shallow, this is because I now have a hilarious video of him doing the best dance ever to “Boom boom (boom boom, I want you in my room – etc.)”. Almost completely sober. On the steps of an optics store. Urging all the Chinese staring at him to join in on the dancing. And continuing to dance when they didn’t.
Oh, and he has the BEST music collection ever. Songs that make me double over laughing are good songs. Hannah was not as amused though.. I think I vaguely heard the words "ridiculous Swedes" mumbled.