Love in the cracks.

It's been a month and a half since I've come to Beijing, and things are pretty good here. I've definitely settled into a routine: classes in the mornings, and studying and sleeping in the afternoons. Throw in hanging out with friends and going shopping a few times a week. Lunch is always with friends, usually with the Chinese-Fils, who I hang out with most. Let's see, there are tourist trips, snowboarding days, grocery-shopping dates, late dimsum lunches, jiaozi 饺子 (dumplings) nights, massage 按摩 nights, bowling nights, karaoke nights, and McDonald's sundae nights, not to mention all those trips to bargain haunts and random meals and studying at cafeterias and restos everywhere around and off campus. And not to forget hanging out during the hourly breaks in the mornings at the 2nd floor of the Run Run Shaw Building (Yifu Teaching Building), where we have earned notoriety as the Chinese-Filipino Mafia/Gang--we take up a whole section of the hallway, thus the bestowed name. Oh, they're the greatest to be with. You laugh like crazy with these guys. It's like, a big family--everyone looks out for each other. I mean, when you get sick, you just know that there are people who'll be looking after you, even if you're all so far away from home.

It's still fun hanging with my other foreign friends, but the thing is, it's really different to be with people like you. We still have lunch dates, but it's good to have a regular group you can always count on. Like, barging into each other's rooms unannounced for unplanned girl-talk sessions is always something I look forward to. =)

Okay, right off the bat, I'm gonna say I love how the holiday concept works here in China. They have like, two major holidays in a year, and for each, the government gives a whole week off. I think that's better than having a billion holidays in a year, popping up in the middle of the week. But then, that's just me. The National Holiday (黄金周) was 7 days long, so most everyone in school went on trips to Inner Mongolia 内蒙古, Xian 西安, Qingdao 青岛, Shanghai 上海, and everywhere else! Only a few people were left on campus. So the Chinese-Filipinos here got together and planned a week's worth of activities for Chi-Fils left behind.

That Monday, everyone had just left for the trips, so we had a late dimsum lunch somewhere near the Lama Temple (and no, I don't think there are lamas there) near the city center. Oh, it was so good! Or maybe I just haven't had a decent dimsum meal since we got here. =) It was at this really good restaurant, and I say it's really good coz it has the rating of 5 diamonds, which is the highest rating for a resto in Beijing or China. It's supposed to be a bit pricey, but at around 2:30pm onwards, the dimsum is at half-price, so yay! We took the subway, and on the way home, we all went to Subway to buy sandwiches for our trip to the Great Wall the next day. Subway sandwiches are usually a bit expensive, like in Manila, but again, one of the guys here found out that on Mondays, they have a buy 1 take 1 promo (买一送一), so that's what we got. So typically Chinese-Filipino, always on the lookout for the best deals. =)

The plan for Tuesday was to hike on the Great Wall 长城. And to climb. From the Jinshanling 金山岭 section to Simatai 司马台 of the Great Wall, which is about 7.5miles (12km) in all! It's really beautiful there, and most of it is unrestored, so you can imagine all the loose rocks. And some parts were so steep and slippery! The steps were uneven, and at times very high, so it really is CLIMBING. It was a good thing that we had guys with us, so at least we had some people to help us up/down and to hold on to. It's really hard! But it was fun, coz the view from up there was absolutely stunning. We made rest stops in the towers there, and the guys offered to guard the doors in case the girls had to go, but no one did. We left campus at around 7:30am, got to the Wall's entrance at 金山岭 and started hiking at about 10am, and we ended past 5pm. In all, we were nine, 5 girls and 4 boys. Oh, and to cap it all off, we zip-lined down. And over a river too! It was fun. After zip-lining down, we rode a boat to the Wall's exit. We got to the city about 7:30pm, had dinner at a resto near school (and had what we call Peking ham), and headed back home. Initially, the plan was to go for foot massages, coz for sure we'd have aching body parts the next day, but then everyone was so tired, we all just went home to sleep.Wednesday, we slept in a bit late, and at around 1pm, went to Carrefour in Zhongguancun (家乐福-中关村) to do some grocery shopping, and coz some of them needed thermal underwear. A lot of people there! I guess it's coz it was a holiday, and there was a sale. Anyway, everyone met up after, and headed to Wangfujing 王府井 to look around and shop a bit. But 王府井的东西很贵，所以我们不买 (Wangfujing stuff is expensive, so we didn't buy anything), just looked around. Leaving two of the girls behind at 王府井, everyone else rode the subway to the Silk Street Market, which is a 7-storey bargain place. You really have to haggle, but if you know how, 东西很便宜 (things are very cheap)! One of the guys here has been here in Beijing since February, so he knows how much prices are, and gave us the price ranges for the stuff we needed. It was tiring though to have to bargain and argue with the vendors. Some of them were really pushy and rude. They grab you sometimes, but most are okay. Others speak okay English, even. We all met up after, talked about what we bought for what prices, and got a bit of a scolding from Rainy (the Chi-Fil guy who's been here since last sem) coz we could've gotten some stuff cheaper. =) We rode the subway back to 王府井, as some of the guys were hungry and they wanted to have xiaolongbao (I don't know the characters for that). And it was so good! The best xiaolongbao, with soup inside! Only 14元 for 8 pieces! Yum!

Thursday was our rest-and-study day. Rainy demanded that we all stay in and study, and no one should go out. We did go to IKEA in the afternoon to get some stuff for storage. I love IKEA! Can you imagine, after a whole month, we actually only then started unpacking our luggages and putting clothes in the closet.

Friday, most of us went to see the Temple of Heaven 天坛. It was so crowded, with local Chinese especially. I hear how China's tourism is looking up since the Chinese are getting richer, and as such, more local Chinese travel to see the rest of their country. Anyway, we had a late lunch at this chicken resto near campus. Everyone got together again that night for dinner at La Bamba, and afterwards, headed to this hotel just off campus for a game of bowling, two teams. It was crazy, but the best game I've ever watched. Not that I'm such an expert, since I'm not too much of a bowling enthusiast. Some of us girls sat out on the game, and stayed to the sides to watch and cheer them on. It was pretty cool, a bit competitive but in a fun way, no drama at all. Near the end, it was all about teasing and having fun, even if they got a lot of gutter balls. Our group was the loudest in the bowling alley--what do you expect with 20 people laughing and teasing--but it was great.

Saturday was the best! Snowboarding! We went to this indoor snow resort, I think on the outskirts of the city. From morning to late afternoon, we did nothing but snowboard. And fall on butts and faces. And get frozen fingers, toes, ears, and noses; the temperature inside was about -2 degrees Celsius. But it was awesome! Most of us didn't know how to balance the board at first, but by the end of the day, we all did pretty well on them, I think. Some of us could do turns and jumps already, and some couldn't. And it got so cold sometimes that we'd randomly go back into the locker rooms for breaks, to defrost and to sleep. But it was the best thrill to be snowboarding down. I think snowboarding is a dangerous addiction, but only because it's pretty expensive to go all the time. But even so, I am definitely going back there soon. It's incredible. =) When we were all tired from playing around, we went back to the city and had hotpot for dinner at Minbao 火锅, which was just right, considering how freezing cold we all felt. I had the best sleep that night though, with all the aching body parts I got from falling and snowboarding all day.

The Chinese-Filipinos are great here. It's like, a family, a home away from home. Everyone here looks out for each other, like brothers and sisters. Taking everyone around, telling us what to get and what not to get, to get things cheaper, etc. The guys are like our ahias, our bodyguards. Especially when riding the subway 地铁, which is crazy here! Everyone squeezes into the subway, with no consideration for others, so they act as our buffers, making a wall when dirty old men push against us. They usually put us girls in the middle of all of them, so they get the most of the stinky, body-odored people. And they make sure to have a guy in the back most of the time, to make sure no one gets left behind. Don't get me wrong. I love all the other friends I've made here--Colombians, British, Americans, and all others. But being with these guys makes Beijing seem a little less alien and a bit more like home.

So, tell me. With a National Holiday week like mine, what else could I ask for, right?