July 19th-Day 6

Day 6 began with all of us but Matthew waking up to go on a run. After half an hour of exercise in the sweltering 6 am heat, we showered and went downstairs to breakfast. Matthew showed up 15 minutes late for breakfast, glasses and bed-head clad and we all enjoyed a nice meal full of dumplings, eggs, noodles, and “KFC” chicken.

After breakfast we scurried over to the auditorium for an introductory video to Beijing Opera. Then we had a short competition among the international students where we put together puzzles of opera masks. Unfortunately, all of us lost, with Kevin, Mackenzie and I coming in last place. After the puzzle competition we got to see a real Beijing Opera in action. They were all right, but after they finished, Mackenzie and I got to show the crowd our newly acquired acting skills. Another performance ensued with two actors fighting each other with wooden swords.

But none of these performances were the highlight of the day. We had the opportunity to get our faces painted in the same designs as the Beijing Opera actors and actresses. I got my face painted in the fashion of a “Darth Maul” Monkey; Kevin got his complexion altered to that of a beautiful young maiden. After 10 minutes of pictures, we spent another half hour scrubbing the paint off.

We had a quick lunch with “Mushrooms Rape”, French Toast, and “Kung Pao” Chicken before we departed for the Capital Museum. The Museum was interesting because of the beautiful architecture and displays, but we were very tired and disappointed by the mislabeled jade collection, so we decided to lie down on the very comfortable padded benches. We returned to the school, prepared our Polytechnic presentation, and headed downstairs for dinner. It has been a long day already, though only 6 pm. but we are looking forward to the upcoming days.

 

 

With love to the world,

Mark Billy Loyola