I know it’s been a long time since I’ve updated, but I’ve been really busy! I know my last real post was kind of depressing, but good news! I had a great last week!

I now know what they mean when they say the people make the experiences, as last week, when Leanne and I went on our weekly adventure, a stranger turned friend really did make my day.

Meet Qi Xian Sheng (Mr. Qi), who was one of the gatekeepers at the Confucius Temple.

As we approached the stone tablets to take pictures, Mr. Qi popped up out of no where, and started directing my photos! He moved Leanne’s arms, posed for us, critiqued my photos, even was gracious enough to have me take a photo of him.

Never had I met someone so willing to help before. He spoke no English, yet he made the biggest effort to speak in simple slow Mandarin so that I could keep up.

As we finished exploring the temples and were about to leave, he stopped us and told us to go to a show –  a free show! That we would have otherwise missed if he hadn’t told us.

It was a traditional Chinese dance that was quite impressive.

Upon trying to leave the second time, he stopped us again and made us try on these silly costumes – which ended up being a lot of fun.

 

He absolutely made my day, and people like him, helpful, caring, happy people like him, make me really happy too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Conclusions from this post:

1. Give people a chance! A language barrier may not be a real barrier at all.
2. Things unfold in very mysterious ways – my time in Beijing has been bittersweet, but they’re really starting to pick up!

Over and out,
kv.

Also! I tried re-uploading my video, it didn’t work. Will continue to keep trying!