Nov. 30, 2016
11:30 pm
Beijing, China
Today has been quite a long day.
Although I was able to sleep in for a little bit, I’ve been doing a lot of running. Because of receiving our passports back with new Residence Permits, Brian and I had to go re-register at the police station. Emily was kind enough to take us around 11 this morning. There was a little bit of a hiccup with technology, but it wasn’t super eventful. It simply meant that I was doing a lot of moving around this morning.
Nothing else worth mentioning happened until this evening when Brian and I met Ashlee in Wangfujing for a night of fun and shopping. Wangfujing is a big shopping area right next to the Tian’anmen Square and Forbidden City area. The moment we stepped out, Brian remarked that it looked like a knockoff Times Square. It’s a pretty accurate description, to be honest. There are a lot of tall buildings with neon signs and light. Of course, it’s Beijing, China, so there are many, many people. The shops there are pretty high end, so we weren’t interested in any of those, although we did go into the six-story bookstore at the end of the night. Most of our time, however, was spent in the market. Ashlee and I were looking for some Christmas presents to send home while Brian just browsed and watched us haggle.
I wish I could explain to you how the markets here look, but there’s just no way without you seeing it for yourself. Basically the streets are lined on both sides with thin tables and booths covered in trinkets and things you can buy. Sellers are standing on lookout and as soon as you approach, they pounce. I actually had one woman physically drag me into her little shop by the arm. She had a really strong grip. Once you do find something you like, though, you don’t pay the price they tell you. Instead, you haggle with them. When they see you, many assume you’re a foreigner because you’re white. Big shocker there. As a result, they tend to set the price extremely high, but you can usually get them to go down quite a bit if you know what you’re doing. I still think I got taken a bit by one lady, but I’ve just accepted it. Basically, the whole place kind of looks like a madhouse, but it’s a lot of fun. It’s what I think of as really “China.”
Again, it’s a little hard to explain it, so here are some videos I took to show you. The first is of the Wangfujing area. Next is the interesting food you can see in the market. Finally, there’s a odd video of a performer who was at the market. Brian and I had quite a long discussion about this person. We’re not sure if it’s a guy or girl performing. The singing is definitely feminine, at least from what I can tell, but I’m pretty sure the performer was lip syncing, so that doesn’t help. It was a bit different, but an experience nonetheless. Hope you enjoy the videos as much as I enjoyed being there. Wish I could share the experience with you more fully.
Wangfujing Market
Note about Words to Remember: My Aunt Nancy gave me an early Christmas present. It’s the book Because of Bethlehem by Max Lucado. In the back of the book is an Advent devotional. I’m going to use this as my Words to Remember every Sunday up until Christmas. Unfortunately, I missed this past Sunday (the first of Advent), but since the second Sunday is coming up, I figured I should probably do the first devotional now. Every other day besides Sunday will be coming from my Solo devotional, which I’ll talk more about tomorrow.
Words to Remember: Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19; Isaiah 2:1-5; Romans 13:11-14; Mark 13:24-37
Challenge: This week is about hope. The hope that Ch—st J—s brings with Him. “If Advent and Christmas were everything you could hope for this year, what words or phrases would you use to describe them?” As you go about this week, remember these words. Notice the lights you see as you go throughout your days. The stop lights, the stars, even the night light in your child’s bedroom. Every time you see one, pray “Come, L—d J—s. My hope is in you.” Take photos of your lights and remind yourself to carry Abba’s light with you always.
Goodnight and Bless,
Kristen
