The last day in Beijing

Today was yet another amazing day. I feel like I have seen the entire country and have only been here for 3 days. I cannot be happier to know that there are 9 more amazing days to come. Anyways, let's talk about today. After we ate breakfast we all boarded our bus to go to a local market with a famous local chef. The market had two floors, the bottom filled with fresh fruits and vegitables from the mundain to the odd and the top floor was filled with meat (both dead and alive). We bought the dead animals, thankfully, and got an assortment of vegitables and then went on our way to the restaurant. We split into two groups and each group prepared a dish that we would enjoy later that afternoon. My group started in the kitchen and we cooked Kung Pow Chicken. The first thing we did was cut the chicken, I volunteered and they gave me a knife as big as my face. I cut the meat into very small pieces and they said I did "Ding Ding How" or Very Very Good. After the meat was cooked we all took a little and prepared it with egg, salt, corn starch, and MSG. The chef then finished our dish in a wok over an increadibly hot flame. The pot was so hot that it turned red but the chef grabbed it by the handel. I don't know how he did it but he did and added all the sauce and vegitables. A few minutes later we were presented with a delicious meal on a plate in front of us. The chicken was absolutely amazing and I was shocked that I cooked it. After that, the two groups switched and it was time to make dumplings. This was a very difficult food to make. We had to take a small ball of dough and roll it while keeping the middle and the edges a little thicker then the rest of the dough. After it was flatened out we put the dough in our hand and filled it with a vegitable filling. Then the hardest part occured, we had to close the dumpling. I was very unsucessful at this, the staff tried to help me but I was pretty much useless. Nonetheless, everyone else was pretty good which made up for me. After our lesson, the chef let us keep the chef's clothing that we had cooked in and it was time to eat the fruits of our labor. The food was delicious and I was very proud of our creation.

When lunch was over we all thanked the chef and got in our bus to go to the Olympic area of Beijing. Our first stop there was the Bird's Nest, the stadium used for the opening session of the 2008 Olympics and a lot of the competitions. We entered the stadium and were amazed by the design of the structure. I cannot even imagine who could have such an imagination and bring this beautiful image to reality. In the stadium Drew, Daniel and I ran a lap around the track that the World's most famous track stars ran only a year ago. We took in the glory and beauty of this building while still trying to grasp the fact that we were in the same place that the world's most amazing athletes stood a mere few months prior. After a little time at the gift shop we took a small walk across the block to the Water Cube, the home of the pool where Michael Phelps won his multitude of gold medals. The arcitecture there was also increadible and looked like a huge square buble. I also don't know who could have dreamed to make a building look like this but it was absolutely beautiful. We were not able to swim in the pool there, sadly, but we all ran through the fountains outside so we can now say that we got in the water at the Bird's Nest. The olympic experience was absolutely amazing and I can now say I have been to three foreign summer olympic hosts (Athens, Beijing, and London for 2012). After the stadiums we went to the hotel for a quick break and then it was off to 798. 798 is the Beijing contemporary art district and is filled with exhibits and shops. The art consisted of some very funky items including a lot of artistic protests against communisim. Almost all of our other experiences thus far in China have been greatly in favor of the government, however, the art here contained a lot of dislike for it including a painting containing a lot of red and with a depiction of a dead animal with a sword in it. The center also had numerous small stores with very interesting crafts and souvineres inside them. We were given some time to explore the area and then met back up for dinner. For a small change in routine, our dinner was American style with paninis and French fries. It was a very tasty meal and made me think of home a little bit. After dinner we returned to the hotel for our last night in Beijing. We did our laundry and are now packing because tomorrow we will be sleeping under the stars by the Great Wall of China. I am so excited for that and for the Dragon boat races we will be doing tomorrow. I hope your excited to hear about it!

P.S.
Because of a lot of computer blocks in China from the government we are not able to upload pictures, but, once we return to America I will be uploading all of my pictures for you to see. I already have taken 1200 in 3 days so I hope your ready for a lot of China to look at.