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北京 Day 1

China day in the life Friends NSLI-Y 北京

Today was a long day that felt like 15 days filled with happiness and sadness, all in one day. It began at 4:00 am, when my host father banged on my bedroom door to wake me up. Then, 20 minutes later, my host father, sister, and I left for 夏大 where we met all the other NSLI-Y kids. The previous night was the farewell party, which was really fun until the last 30 minutes when everyone realized they would not see their tutors again. We all took pictures and cried with our tutors, telling them how much we would miss them and how grateful we were to have met them. I ran into 万老师 and 蔡老师 trying to avoid everyone so she wouldn’t cry which confused me because I was certain they were coming to the airport with us to see us off. This is when I learned that 万老师 didn’t want to come to the airport because she knew she would cry too much. I told her to “face her fears” and told her that I would personally drag her out of bed and onto the bus if it meant I could spend more time with her. She said she wasn’t sure if she would come because 1) it would be very early and 2) she knew it would be too sad. So with this left uncertain, everyone said their goodbyes last night to 万老师 and even to 蔡老师 even though she told us she would come to the airport with us.

蔡and 万老师 have become everyone’s favorite chaperone over the course of the trip. They are always in a happy mood and cheer everyone up. They care so much about us and have dedicated their entire summer to practically babysit 32 reckless teenagers. But then again, they are teenagers themselves. 蔡老师 surprisingly doesn’t talk as much as the other chaperones when she is around a lot of people, but when we are alone with her she is hilarious. Her voice is so distinctive with the coolest Chinese accent I’ve heard.

Then there is 万老师 who just graduated from 厦门大学 this year with a major in Chinese. I don’t know how to even start describing how much I miss 万老师 already, and it has been less than a day. She is so kind, compassionate, joyful, and awesome. Saying goodbye to her was one of the hardest things I have had to do.

So back to my story. Today, once we arrived at the university campus, we waited for the rest of the students and chaperones to arrive. I waited a good 5 minutes and then called 蔡老师 to make sure they were coming down. When I called her she said that she was jumping on 万老师 bed trying to wake her up. 30 minutes later they come down to the parking lot where we were waiting for the bus to arrive. We all took pictures and told our host families goodbye as we loaded the bus. We all got on (I sat next to 万老师 and Skylar sat next to 蔡老师) and we drove for 15 minutes to the airport. 

When we got to the airport, that's when it felt real. The reality that we would probably not see them again stunk in. I tried holding it together but after checking our bags, we all started crying. We took more pictures and said goodbye as we got in line for security. 蔡老师 and 万老师 waved to us until they couldn't see us anymore. By that time I was sobbing, already missing them. 

We walked to our terminal and I WeChatted both of them with updates. We got on the plane, which was 30 minutes delayed, and looked out the window as we left the "gate to summer", 厦门. We arrived in 北京 after 2.5 hours. The second we walked off the plane you could feel the air quality difference. It was like a super humid day. While we were getting our luggage, Skylar and I saw the Chinese character 万 on an advertisement. I quickly took a picture of it and sent it to 万姐姐. This started our hunt for 万. Every time we see one we took a picture of it and sent it to our favorite chaperone. 

After leaving the airport we took a charter bus to the Holiday Inn Hotel, which is right next door to Olympic village. Although the hotel did not look to too nice on the outside, the inside is beautiful. We checked in and looked for our rooms. Sydney and I have the corner room, meaning that we have one of the biggest rooms among the students. We had 30 minutes in the hotel before we left for Olympic Village.

We went to 鸟巢 (Birds Nest) first. The stadium is huge and has 80,000 seats surrounding the track and field. We walked around the stadium and took pictures before leaving to go see the 水立方 (Water Cube). Inside the stadium they were currently doing some construction but it was still amazing to see the huge field and track. Outside of the direct village, there is the highest building that is open to tourists as a look out point on the Olympic Park. We learned that the park was built to have perfect 风水 (FengShui), meaning the Birds Nest represents the guard and the water cube represents the earth.

The Water Cube's architecture was amazing, build to look like a bubble. Inside they have made a water park which is open to the public to use. The actual Olympic Pool was not as big as I thought. It was big, but I had thought it would have been bigger. After visiting the park we went to dinner and got a delicious meal and peeking duck!!