August 18

We went to the Great Wall--to a section that normally only Chinese know about and go to. But this time, there were a ton of foreigners there too. It was the first time I got asked, "Do you speak English?" I got to translate for someone who didn't quite understand how to buy tickets. It was fun to see the guy's reaction when I spoke in Chinese with my uncle (because I didn't really know how to buy tickets either). He asked me if I was from here. I laughed and said, no I'm from America. He, who sounded like he was from Europe, gave me a look that seemed to say, now why would you be from there, and accepted our advice.
I think I'm starting to like saying that I'm American. The only time I feel American is when I'm not in America. And plus, I enjoy breaking people's stereotypes of the blonde, blue-eyed, stubborn, monolingual American.

The mountains at that re-built section of the Great Wall were incredible. It was like the Sierras only smaller and sharper peaks. Also greener, a lot greener. And there are the remains of a wall that stretch miles upon miles up and down the peaks. Okay, so by "like the Sierras" I mean they were incredible and awesome and mountains, but really different.

It was super hot on the wall. We took a lift (as in a ski lift) up and walked a ways on the wall and then hiked down. (You can also take a slide down, but it's quite expensive and the wait was like 45 minutes in the hot sun. It did look pretty fun though.) There were plenty of exhausted tourists on the wall. And quite a few complaining Americans who just wanted some Coronas.

That evening I went into town to see my cousin who had been studying Chinese at ACC in Beijing. It was crazy to speak English again. And she speaks quickly, so it was quite fun to feel at home in a language again. I thoroughly enjoyed sitting with her at a jiaozi fangguan (a dumpling restaurant) and chatting away in English too fast for anyone in the restaurant to understand. Plus it was so wonderful to see a familiar face and catch up. NOTE TO ANYONE PLANNING TO VISIT ME: Please come. It will be fun. Trust me. You will be thoroughly enjoyed.