Enjoying my time

The summer has started in Beijing! Although, the transition from winter to spring and next to summer only took about 2 weeks, I am really enjoying the sunshine and cleaner air. Now, is the opportunity to explore the areas just outside Beijing, before it is becoming too hot.

I was invited to join a colleague and her friend to take part in a small music event. This took place in the “holiday village” named Shang Zhuang, which is located north of Beijing. It was nice to experience what Chinese people are doing in their free time. We started this afternoon with having a delicious lunch, at what dishes were serviced prepared from organic food. These vegetables were grown in this holiday village, so they were fresh. I didn’t tell them that they can increase their crop yield by using fertilizers, hahaha. After the lunch, some people played live music and the audience was invited to sing a song……. by heart. I thanked for the honour, because I didn’t want to scare them with my singing talent, hahaha. This enjoyable day was concluded with a nice dinner, at which Moutai was serviced. I must say real Moutai doesn’t taste bad. It only has to made clear when you are drinking it, it is the real one.

Last Wednesday was the Labour day, in order to have 3 days off (Monday till Wednesday), we had to go to school/work last weekend. This meant going to school 7 days in a row and then 3 day off. Tuesday, I visited the Lama Temple, a famous temple complex in Beijing, so there were a quite a lot of tourists. Buddhists can pray in the temples, depending on what a person want to pray for, one should pray to a specific god in order to be heard.

On Labour day, I went with a few fellow students to Ya So Shan. Ya So Shan is a hill located in a huge area with peach trees and on top of this hill there is a temple. This area is famous for the production of peaches and people visit this place in springtime. When the peach trees are in flower, so that the blossoms can be admired. We walked up the hill while enjoying the nice weather and nature. When we finally reached the top and the view was superb!