Beijing Mountain "Adventure"

LOVED IT!
Adventurous?
No, not really.

Excellent opportunity to interact in Chinese culture and see GREEN trees and CLEAR skies and (fairly) TALL mountains?!

Yes. (!!!)

As we were driving from Tianjin to Beijing, I looked out my window and thought, "Have I returned to Washington State?! Am I driving through Snohomish on my way to Marysville?!"

It was a nice surprise.

A guy and girl from English Corner invited another teacher from my school and me to join them on a road trip to the mountains in Beijing. (We went "camping" in cabins.)

Fifteen people ended up going on the road trip. We took four cars. (They are richer Chinese people.) Melinda and I were the only foreigners. The rest were nationals. Melinda was the oldest (50's). Our trip organizer is 30. (He has a wife and a son, but they did not come with us on the trip.) Most of us seemed to be in our 20's to early 30's.

It was so great!
(Fun-loving, just out to have a good time, people my age. YES!)

We also had a great variety of English speaking abilities. (YAY!!!)
At first, few wanted to try their English, then we started getting used to each other. I smiled, laughed, tried my Chinese sentence, and by the second day a girl who knew (practically) no English invited me out on a walk before we returned to Tianjin.
(It was a great walk! Loved it.)

Driving to the city center of Beijing (I hear,) takes about 3 hours.
We stopped 2 or 3 times for people to get out and take potty breaks!

At one tollbooth, (there are MANY on the "expressways,") most of the guys got out of the cars and walked over to the ditch to pee.

hah

One rest stop was at a hospital. (I guess a normal place for rest stops in China?)
We couldn't go IN to use the bathroom, but the guards let us use their "house" toilet...it was a squatty potty.
I wasn't quite sure how to use it. (I had almost used one once before, but then I found a Western style toilet and used that instead.)

I decided to fake that I used the bathroom and held it until we got to our cabin in the mountains. (haha -- Western toilet!)
[I later asked Melinda for "squatty-potty" tips. On our journey home, I bravely used the squatty-potty twice. They are not as intimidating as I had supposed. (If only I had come from a camping family.)]

The food on the trip was also a delightful experience. (No sarcasm.)

Melinda and I drove in a car with the two non-smoking guys: Andy (the organizer of the trip) and Tony.
(OBVIOUSLY, these are their English names NOT their given names.)
They both work for the same company -- cellphone technology, etc.

When we started our journey (first rest stop,) Tony bought Melinda and I breakfast from a street vendor. [Two eggs, some spices, an "oil stick" (similar to a long doughnut), all wrapped up together and you eat it like a burrito.]
Its name has the word "bing" (Chinese bread,) in it, but that's all I remember.
Tony was trying to teach me, but I couldn't remember all the words. (I need to start carrying around a Chinese language notebook so I can improve and remember quickly.)

We stopped right outside of our ultimate destination to have lunch: Chinese BBQ. YUMMY!
Their BBQ is a long, thin shape. Fire comes from coals. You put your food on wooden skewers, cook the item for awhile, and consume.
We ate tofu, various types of chicken, whole wheat bing, and some hot dogs.
In order to get the food crispy they put oil and curry-like spices on the food. Good. (It smelled delicious too!)

The nationals kept offering Melinda and I more and more food. They wouldn't accept "no thank you" (bu xie xie) until the end of our experience. (They also taught me how to say, "I am full!")

We had other great dining experiences. (YUM!) I will post pictures.

The landscape was BEAUTIFUL. (I will post pictures.) The view from our cabin was -- tranquil. So different from the city. So calming and peaceful.

I forget that I am in the city when I am here in Tianjin. But, going to the mountains reminded me. (My "inner-being" really began to relax and feel...calm when I started seeing green trees, mountains, and space. So weird. All "sub"conscious.)

It was so wonderful to BREATHE and see GREEN and take WALKS and see the RAIN and HEAR the raindrops fall on the leaves.

We didn't do much, but for the above mentioned reasons it was WONDERFUL.

I was so sad to leave my new friends.
I enjoyed trying to exchange languages.
I want to spend more time with them.
I would like to be with more people like them -- going out to enjoy life and experience fun things.

PTL for the gifts He provides.
More souls to think about.